Blood Corruption
by pinkelephante
Summary: AH/AU Sookie is forced to work for the mob's cut throat members after Jason gets caught up in a massive deal gone wrong. Along the way she learns about her heritage to blood money, love, and complete betrayal by everyone she thought she knew.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm merely using these characters for entertainment and no profit. Any similarities to any other stories are simply coincidence and no offense whatever is intended. And yes, this is an eventual Sookie & Eric story. All human, alternate universe, mob story.

**Blood Corruption**

Chapter I

I woke up with a start, gasping for breath as I felt around for my cell phone, pulling it up and quickly checking for the time. It read 10:12 p.m. I groggily took in my surroundings, realizing that I must have fallen asleep after my insanely busy shift at the new Tapas restaurant a few blocks away. I tried to clear my head of the lingering dream visuals in my head of someone handing me a silver ring with a small silver leaf resting on the top. I didn't consider myself vain, but clearly my subconscious was jonsen for some jewelry, and some very high end jewelry if my dream was any indication.

I had only been asleep for little over an hour, I calculated in my head. I picked up my phone again, imagining that I had felt it vibrating as if a phone call was coming in. Checking it concluded that I had stupidly imagined it— something I often did.

I stretched out to my full length, which wasn't very impressive, and then felt my phone going off again or as the case may be, not again. I was about to ignore it, figuring that it was indeed just my imagination until I saw the little bit of light emitted from the screen when a call was coming in.

Jason, was calling. Jason never called. I always called him, yelling at him for never calling me. To say I was surprised was an understatement.

"Sook, you picked up," I heard on the other side of the receiver. He sounded like he was both relieved and trying to catch his breath after an intense sprint.

"Jason, of course I picked up, as if I wouldn't for you." I was a bit annoyed. He was so thick. I sometimes wondered if family really did mean that much more to me than it did to him. Clearly his lack of phone calls had to be some indicator of his priorities.

"I need you. I need you to do something for me." He was speaking fast and sounded uncertain, which was very unusual for my usually confident brother.

In my head I was trying to figure out how I could brush him off. I was already feeling guilty for thinking badly of him for not putting family first when I was clearly beating around the bush myself.

I let out a tired sigh. Jason knew that I had a new job and that I had been on my feet all night.

"Sookie. You have to help me." I opened my mouth, about to argue that I didn't have to help him at all, but something about his pleading tone made me stop.

"Need me to do something for ya' or need to help you?" I asked, curious by what he was getting into. His second asking sounded a whole lot more desperate than the first. For the first time since I had picked up the phone I heard that shuffling sound in the background, like the sound of metal scrapping across a cement floor.

He hadn't responded yet. "Jason?" I asked, my heart fluttering a bit, but not in a good way.

"Sookie, I need you to do something for me. I need you to do something for me," he repeated" I'm in serious trouble." Fuck. He was serious. I don't think I had ever heard Jason sound so serious… and scared.

"I need you to go to my house and pick up a bag at my house, there'll be some money in it." Jason started to describe what the bag looked like and where the money was in his house, a place I was decently familiar with and had a copy of his key. By the end of his instructions he was out of breath and someone on his head was clearly yelling at him, although it was difficult for me to make out.

"Sookie, you need to ignore anything in the house, ignore anyone that might be there and just get in and out. If anything happens tonight you need to go to Eric. He'll take care of you, Sook."

"Ok. Should I be … worried? I'm not going to get hurt am I?" I asked, concerned for my own safety for the first time since we had started this insane conversation. I was anxious, like I needed to go now and he was taking too long to tell me everything I needed to know before I left, if I decided to even do this.

"No. No. No, of course not," he said, although he sounded almost as if he were trying to convince himself. I quickly wanted nothing to do with this, my high heart rate was indicating this to me.

I heard some mumbling on the other side and Jason talking to the person as if pleading or compromising. "Sure, yes," he said. "Sookie, whatever you do, do not look inside of the bag, just bring it here."

"Jase, you need to call the cops, what the fuck is –"

"No. No cops. Sookie, you're the only one that I can have do this. You must do this for me, they said," he grunted over the phone in immense pain. I pulled the phone away from my ear a bit as I realized that someone must have hit him as I could hear him coughing in the background. I heard the phone on his side clatter to the hard floor.

"Bring the bag. We'll see you at Northside lounge in an hour," said a woman's voice, sickly sweet.

"We?"

"12, be there or your regret your decision to save your brother."

"Wait, what, how do I know-!" I screamed to no one on the phone, the woman had hung up on me. I was hyperventilating. What the fuck was I supposed to do? I couldn't call the cops.

Jason had always hung around the wrong crowd but this was far worse than I had expected. Our parents had been into heavy drug use when we were little and it had directly ruined our family. I couldn't go to the cops because whoever had him would kill him, I figured.

Selfishly I realized that whatever Jason was involved with was probably illegal, and going to cops guaranteed his lock up as well. I wasn't willing to lose the very limited amount of family that I had by involving police now that mom and dad were gone.

I grabbed my purse, grabbing one thing from the back of the fridge and throwing it into my purse, thankful that I had fallen asleep with my work heels on.

Someone in a pretty large coat brushed by me once I reached the side walk. I yelped in surprise. I realized right away it was Amelia with a huge smile on her face.

Her kind eyes recognized me and I could see her mouth opening to ask me a million questions, all very kindly, about how my day was and where I was going and, if I knew her well enough, if I wnatd her to come with me. That was definitely something I didn't want her doing. I'd fill her in later.

"Amelia, hey, I have to go do something, an emergency."

"Emergency? Want me to come?" she asked, her face crumpling a little. I didn't often use the word emergency and she knew something was up. She looked eager to both find out what was going on but give me space. "No, no. I should be fine."

"Oh. Ok. What happened?"

"I have to go do something for Jase," I said, already moving to the car, hoping she'd get the idea that this was indeed a time of the essence type of situation.

"Ok," she said, not looking very convinced. "Call me! Let me know if you need anything. Or if you need me to call your boss for tomorrow. Or-" she yelled as I slammed the door shut on my car. I watched as she walked into the house and waited until she locked the door behind her.

I fumbled with my keys and had an intensely strong feeling that someone was watching me.

I looked over my shoulder nearly a dozen times as I got ready to take off, convinced that someone was watching me but there was no one there every time I looked.

I threw my care into reverse and drove much more radically than I normally did to my brother's place, already resolved that I had to do this and wouldn't call the cops. In the back of my head I was also reviewing basic self defense moves in my head, ignoring the fact that it'd been more than 10 years since I'd taken that class.

Once I got there I double-parked next to what I recognized to be Jason's car, surprised a bit that his car was even there. "He's been kidnapped, he didn't drive there," I told myself.

Jason lived in a pretty low end income part or the city. A large amount of his neighbors were sitting on their front lawns and porches in lawn chairs because of the July heat. A few other cars were, not surprisingly, double parked as well as parking was extremely difficult in this part of town and people quickly came and went from houses, probably picking up drugs or children.

I hastily put my old car's emergency lights on and ran around the back, pulling out my extra key and entering through the back.

I almost screamed when I saw a naked woman lying on the couch. Get in and out, Jason had said, no kidding. Of course Jason had to know this woman was here.

The woman shifted a bit, her body beginning to stir as though she was waking up. Her eyes shot open to my still form at the door, glaring at me through the smoke hazed room.

"Who the fuck are you?" She rudely asked me, making no move to cover any part of her sickly thin body. Her light blond hair looked almost matted and had fallen down from a lose bun.

"Jason's sister." She looked surprised to hear this.

"I thought Jason was gone," she simply stated, any look of surprise gone from her face.

I didn't have time for this, although I did find it surprising that she thought my brother would be gone, although who knows what plans my brother had before he had gone and gotten himself apparently kidnapped by who knows who. For all I knew he was supposed to be gone and gotten himself kidnapped from Ohio or something.

A thought struck me that I had no clue whether or not my brother was even anywhere near Northside lounge or even in Los Angeles at all.

"Wait where was Jason supposed to be?" I asked her.

"I just figured that Eric had him." Eric? The same Eric that Jason had told me to go to if I was in trouble? Why would he tell me to go to the same guy that clearly had his ass?

Maybe it was a different Eric. By the way she was speaking it was clear she was still on the come down from either a massive hangover or a high. Considering she was naked I assumed it might have been both, a combination that made her not very reliable with her information.

Never trust a junkie. I knew this. I didn't need anyone to tell me. I knew first hand, oh hell did I know first hand.

I climbed past her on the dingy red sofa that was falling apart and had multiple burn marks on it, stepping on a shit ton of pieces of foil. Before I reached the closet behind her I saw her reach forward and grab what appeared to be a clear pipe. It was like a marijuana piece but smaller, clear, less fancy than the one's I'd seen people use in college. I looked away when I saw her light it up.

She was smoking meth. I recognized the burnt smell from my childhood suddenly.

I swiftly became paranoid as to what the smoke in this house was as she was clearly smoking something other than pot.

I rushed through the closet faster, shoving boxes of zip lock bags out of the way, knowing that the bags and foil and the pipes probably meant bad news. Finally at the back of closet was a safe, one I knew the code to from previous encounters with my brother but where he said the bag would be.

When I finally had the purple bag in my hand I had the urge to open it, to just check that there was money in it. I leaned forward, pulling the drawstrings that held it closed apart, slowly.

"My name's Crystal by the way," the woman said, hanging over the sofa. Her sudden outburst had startled me. I pulled the strings shut immediately on the bag. I got up and left, not looking at the woman on the sofa or even bothering to close the safe.

Jason had told me not to open the bag and I wouldn't, too scarred by the short scenes I'd already witnessed to open it. From the feel of it, it felt like there was large bundles of cash in there. It'd just have to do.

I vaguely considered the irony that this woman's name was Crystal and she was smoking meth in my brother's home.

Northside was a tremendously busy and classy bar in the downtown area. I pulled up in my rinky-dink old car, realizing that I'd find no parking in time and since I'd never been here was unfamiliar with any places to park. I was running out of time and decided to just do valet.

I'd make Jason pay me back, I thought haughtily, trying to be optimistic that I'd even have a brother to pay me back.

I grabbed the bag and rushed to the bouncer at the front door. I looked down, suddenly concerned with my attire for such a high end establishment. Saving Jason was clearly becoming more hectic than I'd imagined when he first asked me for a favor.

Luckily the Tapas place I worked at required their waitresses to wear little black dresses. Mine was nice enough that no one would ever know that it was actually my work uniform. Just as the bouncer waved me in a petite blond dressed in her finest walked up to the door and appeared to be taking place there as extra security or something. While she was so small she couldn't have hurt a fly, the sour look on her face appeared to make most people take a double glance at her.

She briefly looked me up and down, long enough that my back was to her yet I could still feel her penetrating gaze through my bodice, clearly trying to identify me.

I slipped into the bar, squinting against the dark. The bar had dark, industrial cement floors, and exposed vents. The walls were also cement and a ton of dark leather seats and sofas lined the walls, beautiful women lounging and drinking beers out of glasses and goblets. The place was packed. "How am I ever going to find who I need to find in here," I thought to myself.

I spotted a single open seat at the bar. I practically ran in my heels to get it, brushing shoulders with a tall red head to gave me a death glare. I gave her a small and very fake sorry smile. Bitch.

I climbed my exhausted booty to the top of the stool and decided to order a drink. Talking to the bar tender had to be the first step towards getting my brother back, if he was even being housed at this establishment.

"Gin and tonic" I said politely to the bar tender after I'd gotten his attention, which was a difficult task as the bar was mostly consumed with women who could very well be models flaunting their flat chests in attempt to be first to receive service.

I dug out my credit card, cursing the fact that I didn't have any cash on me. Clearly who ever had my brother would also have my credit card information. I had assumed who ever had him probably owned this place. I didn't even want to consider what that might entail— drug trafficking mother fuckers having my credit information.

A well built man with dark hair seated beside me in a suit turned to me when he heard me give my order.

"Sookie," he said in recognition, reaching out to grasp my shoulder firmly in his large, warm hands.

My eyes went wide. I knew that voice. I looked up and saw none other than Alcide, the man I was sort of seeing. I felt myself feel like I was going to shit a brick.

"Well, Alcide," I said giving him an awkward side hug. "What are you doing here?" I hoped I didn't sound too nervous, playing the flirtatious card to try to distract him.

"Just getting a drink," he said, clearly surprised that I was here. He rubbed his very large hands up and down my arms for a second and then looked away, almost like he was waiting for someone. Alcide had always been a bit touchy feely, but it was something that I liked about him. For being such an independent woman, I did like to want to be wanted, and what better way to relay that by touch— except now wasn't exactly the prime location or time for me to be getting cozy with Alcide.

I saw him look back over to the door briefly. I glanced to the other side of him just wondering if he had a female companion with him. He didn't, a man sat next to him engaged in a conversation with two ladies, appearing to be a part of a separate party. "Are you here with anyone?" I asked, beside myself and becoming just a little bit peeved that Alcide actually might be seeing someone other than myself.

"No, no, just here by myself." He hadn't given me any reason to believe him otherwise, although we had only gone on a few dates.

"I didn't know you came here."

"Can say the same for you, Sookie." He appeared to be a bit nervous having run into me. If I hadn't been so concerned with saving my brother's behind I might have been too.

We weren't too serious, I tried reminding myself. Alcide was an attorney I'd met at the restaurant I worked at and we'd gone on a few dates.

"Sookie, I've been pretty busy, with my father and what not, I'm sorry I haven't been in better contact with you."

Alcide was a daddy's boy in my book. Educated and very manly but always caught up in what appeared to be his father's business. If I could have a relationship based on looks alone, Alcide would be my man. With his wide chest and strong arms, he was a eye opener.

Before he could pay for my drink I handed the bar tender my credit card which he looked at briefly before asking, "Sookie? Stackhouse?" I nodded in response.

He handed the credit card without charging it. "On the house, Bobby will be out to see you in a few," he responded. So this was how I was supposed to meet up with someone. Clearly I'd done the right thing. I nervously glanced at my cell phone, checking the time. I still had 20 minutes until my brother supposedly died or something.

I looked pretty surprised and thanked the bar tender, moving my still wild eyed gaze to Alcide who looked at me curiously as though I were hiding something. Which I was hiding something. He sipped his whisky, and I noticed his discrete side glance at me as someone brushed up against my back. I flinched. He was definitely either suspicious of me or hiding something himself.

"Is Amelia here with you?" He asked suddenly before I could acknowledge that someone was clearly waiting for me at my turned back.

"No, no, I haven't seen her today," I lied, although it was hardly anything of importance. He thick eyebrows rose up higher on his forehead as if questioning me but he didn't say anything further.

I couldn't just tell him that I was attempting to pay off what I thought were drug trafficking people to save my brother. Alcide was an attorney for god's sake, he did not need to be in this mess and heaven forbid if I brought in a potential love interest into the mistake that was Jason's life.

The person who had clearly brushed my back placed a hand on my shoulder. I cringed, as I usually fiercely guarded my personal space and the haughty young woman in me flared to life. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and put whoever had the nerve to touch me in his place.

Alcide must have seen the look of distaste on my face because he was currently glaring down the distinctly male hand on my shoulder. I turned around and was greeted by a male of medium height and stature, dark hair, and nothing surprisingly distinct about him.

"I'm Bobby, if you'd come to the back with me, I've been told there a few matters that I'm to discuss with you." This guy was a tool, clearly with no balls of his own and only following someone else's itinerary.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. "Wait, Sookie, where are you going?" Alcide asked. Of course he must be thinking that I was meeting up with this guy for personal social reasons.

"I'm just meeting with him for my brother," I told him, not that it was any of his business. Clearly he was at a bar, 'alone', as well. Let him think whatever he wanted to.

"Jason?" Alcide asked, his eyes looking like they were going to bulge out of their sockets. I didn't know that I had ever mentioned Jason's name to Alcide but clearly I had.

"Alcide, it's not what you think, I'll explain later," I told him, suddenly feeling a bit more sympathetic towards him. I pleaded with my eyes to forgive me and tried to relay that I couldn't say anymore on the situation. He looked at me in silent agony and then I had to leave.

Before I was out of earshot I thought I heard him mumble something along the lines that it was exactly what he thought it was.

I was already up and following the man named Bobby when I saw Alcide look around nervously and then get up and looking as though he was deciding to follow me or not. He decided on not, heading to the door. Maybe he wasn't waiting for someone else like my musings had toyed with.

Or, maybe he was upset that I was clearly following another man that I had planned to meet here when I had told him I had work, I thought. Jason was running not only my Saturday night but my romantic relationships as well it appeared.

Bobby took me to a curtained off area and then down a hallway. I pulled my purse a little tighter around my body, clearly spooked by the stark contrast to the busy outside bar area.

I followed him past two large bouncers that he nodded to, into an empty room with a few chairs. The door shut behind me and I was surprised to find that no one else was joining us. I assumed that this would require more people.

"The bag," he said, opening his hand expecting me to just place the bag in his hand. Crazy. I wasn't just going to hand over my only guarantee to my brother alive.

"What? No, where's Jason?" I asked stubbornly.

"Your brother will be released when we receive the bag," he said, clearly annoyed with my response. He had to see how this was insane.

"I don't know you or where my brother is or if he's even alive! Why should I give you anything?" He glanced down at the purple bag I was carrying, clearly recognizing what it was. Bobby looked back up at me, his eyes looking from me to the bag. He awkwardly made a move for the bag before I pulled it out of his grasp.

He looked pissed. "Give me the bag and we'll let your brother go."

"What the hell? Who are you people and what is going on?" I screamed as he lunged at me, trying to get the bag out of my grasp.

I realized split second that I was being stupid. Jason had told me exactly what to do. I let him pull the bag out of my hands and watched as his murderous glare found my eyes after looking into the bag.

"It's fucking empty, you stupid bitch!" He yelled as he lunged at me again, this time pushing me back against the door with a loud thump. I had no time to process what was going on.

Jason had told me not to look in the bag and just bring him the money. There was clearly something else in the bag, I hadn't just brought an empty purple bag to a stranger. Why had Jason told me not to look when he clearly needed there to be money in the stupid little bag?

He was struggling with me and I was fighting back with everything I had, pushing back against him with all my weight, wishing I had changed out of my work heels. I felt the air move as the door behind me was opening up. Bobby, the massive tool was clearly enraged and a lot more confident with his movements as he pushed me down to the ground.

On reflex I shoved my knee upwards and jammed it up into his ball sack twice before he landed on me roughly. I screamed at the weight of him smashed my back into the same hard concrete floor.

Once he was on the floor I saw his hand come out to grab my face. He squeezed, hard. I was going to die on this floor, not even a blow to his manhood was keeping him down for long.

"Oh no you don't!" I screamed as loudly as I could, attempting to push this large man off of my small figure.

Before I knew it I was reaching into my own purse, pulling out my mousegun, a small pistol I had never used before but owned after my roommate Amelia had insisted I get one after an attempted mugging outside our place. I thought she was crazy, but clearly I was more crazy, because here I was using it.

Bobby didn't even feel me moving for it as he pulled his fist back to swing at my face, a look of anger clearly on his face.

Without even thinking about it I pulled the trigger back and shot him. A loud blast filled the room. He howled in pain. My heart was going to explode in my chest. I'd shot someone.

"Fuck! Fuck! You bitch!" he screamed in agony. Clearly I hadn't killed him. I looked up at him and saw him retreating, holding his foot.

I'd shot him in the foot. I almost giggled.

Before I could pull the gun back up to get another shot at him a red high heel from above me came down with immense strength and pinned my arm to the floor where I was reclined. The distinct Jimmy Choos belonged to no other than the blond woman I had seen look me over when I entered the bar.

I saw her gaze lazily over Bobby in the corner, nursing his foot and then did the least imaginable thing I could have thought of— she laughed.

She laughed a high pitched, almost shrill, laugh. "Oh Bobby," she almost cooed. Was this woman insane? "The small woman shot him!" she said between tears that had begun to fall from her eyes between laughter.

Bobby looked furious like he was going to lunge at me again but the blond woman gave him a long stare and he appeared to resettle into his corner and continue to brace his foot. "Pam, some help?" Bobby asked in agony, addressing the blond who I assumed was Pam.

The woman called behind her. "Bill?" I realized then that the door was wide open and there was a finely dressed man in a beige suit and a crisp blue shirt standing at the door holding a gun to the two bouncers that had been outside of the door while I had been attacked. He then glanced down at me quickly, doing a double take after a second, seemingly surprised by my being on the floor.

Bill's reaction to me had me thinking that perhaps he recognized me. Which wouldn't be so outside of the box after today and I did work in a restaurant and saw many people on a daily basis.

"Bobby appears to have completely bumbled this little task of obtaining the money from Stackhouses's sister." Pam had not yet released my arm. With her other pointy heel she kicked the gun out of my hand, which I was only loosely holding by this point, completely shocked by the recent events.

The man with the stern looking face, Bill,, stealthily bent over to quietly retrieve my gun and slip it into his pant pocket, all while keeping the gun on the two bouncers. I gulped as his eyes racked over my black dress, now rumpled and pushed quite high up on my very rounded hips. I struggled with the fabric, trying to pull it down when

Pam stopped my hand with her red shoe again. "Leave it," she said, with a small smile, almost delighted when I stopped my movement. I had no wish to die.

"Do you have Jason?" I asked, my voice cracking but my resolve at resolving this situation growing.

"Oh yes, little one, we do indeed have your brother." Pam said. "He is quite the looker, if I might say so myself," she added. Her fondness of my brother's looks gave me hope that they'd let him go.

"Are you going to let him go?" I asked, hopeful that they would. I heard Bobby angrily grunt in the corner and Bill raise his eyebrow at my question, either surprised by my courage or stupidity. We all looked at Pam for an answer.

"No. The deal was bring the money and we'd let him go," she stated matter-of-factly. I gaped at her. "I'm surprised that this little exchange even had to go so far. I had no need or want to see you today, Stackhouse."

"I was told not to look inside the bag before I retrieved it. How was I supposed to know it was empty? Jason only asked for the bag." Pam's eyes narrowed as she listened to me, becoming angered.

"You spoke to your brother?" She looked suspicious, like I was lying or something.

"Yes, I spoke to Jason, how do you think I even knew to come here?"

Bill took that moment to speak up. "Clearly someone did not follow Eric's directions." There was that name again.

"Eric? Who's Eric? Is Eric the one that has my brother? What is going on?" Bill and Pam ignored me, clearly trying to figure out their own part of the story.

"I told you to send Lorena to assist with Jason Stackhouses's ransom," Pam angrily hissed. "This was supposed to be a basic transaction. Not something we needed to involve Eric with."

"I know but she was otherwise… occupied." Bill said.

"Who the hell did you send then?"

"I had her send someone in her place, she said she would take care of it."

"And you trusted her?" Pam asked, incredulously. "Actually, of course you believed her," Pam scoffed. Bill's eyes softened a bit, almost as though he was embarrassed, but it was gone in a second.

He looked over to me on the floor, a clear look of pity on his face. I could feel my temper rising.

"Get up," Pam barked at me. I did what she said, although I justified in my head it was not because she had ordered me to but that it was because standing was a much more preferable stance in a situation like this.

"Why didn't you stop this?" Bill asked the two bouncers who were at the door and seemingly had been at the door the entire time I was being attacked.

"De Castro."

Pam's eyes lit up instantly and she barked out another round of laughter, this one much more short than the first one. She glanced back at Bobby. "Of course, De Castro, I forgot that you work for him as well as Eric, dear Bobby." Bobby gulped, clearly frightened by Pam and Bill.

"De Castro paid you not to interfere?" Bill asked. One of the bouncers nodded.

Bill waved his gun down the hall, signaling that the bouncers should move in that direction. He put his gun away as they walked away. He was just going to let them go, I'd almost been killed, I thought.

"What did De Castro have you do, Bobby?"

"He just told me to collect the money from his sister and not to let anyone else interfere, no matter what."

"Why'd you attack her?" Bill asked. I was surprised by his question. I didn't think that anyone was really concerned about me in this situation. I saw his eyes meet mine after a second. Maybe he was concerned?

"Fucking bitch brought me an empty bag, both Eric and De Castro would have had me killed if I came to them empty handed after what Jason's short handed them so much money and time already." Bill shrugged at his words.

"Hardly reason to strike a lady." Pam looked amused at Bill's words.

"Why is De Castro interested in any of this?" Bill asked him.

"No idea, I don't ask questions when the head told me to do things." Bill looked as if he was reaching for his gun. Bobby flinched. "I don't know, ok, I assume that it's because of her brother, right?"

"Well, clearly De Castro has some say in what's been going on here and I'm certain that Eric has no clue as to how he's been interfering." Pam said to Bill, who nodded. "Why the hell would De Castro interfere on such a miniscule monetary and punishment transaction?"

No one said anything, clearly not having an answer. I had no clue who these people even were. From what I could gather was that Bobby hadn't exactly followed this Eric's directions and someone named De Castro was paying bouncers to let Bobby over here do whatever he wanted with me because of my stupid ass brother. I shivered at the thought.

"It doesn't matter much now, does it? She's shot his man, that's clearly grounds for De Castro to do what he wants with her," Bill remarked, his voice sounding passively monotone considering he'd just eye fucked me when I was on the floor. "We'll question him further after the boss gets in."

"What?" I squeaked.

"Well you did shoot him."

"In the foot! In self defense!" I argued.

"Bobby's no longer Eric's man, he's De Castro's, and he can do with you what he wishes," Pam calmly said. What type of logic was this shit.

"I'll take her with me," Bill said casually, clearly having reconsidered his previous words. He cleared his throat awkwardly after saying this, as though he was uncertain this was ok. What did he even mean? He offered me his hand as well as a small smile that changed his entire façade. I almost found myself smiling back at him— he looked so much pleasant actually showing some type of emotion.

"Another one, Bill?" Pam was smirking at him. I looked back at Bill, his small smile for me gone. It appeared showing any type of emotion was not his forte.

"Pamela, surely you see the importance in keeping her safe. There is much more going on with her brother than we previously thought if De Castro is fiddling around in Eric's territories of all places."

Pam nodded, seemingly to agree. "I need to call Eric, he'll not be pleased about this."

"We'll inform De Castro that Bobby did indeed attack her, we even have witnesses." He said, motioning down the hall at the departed bouncers.

"Yes, but now she also knows about some other things," Pam said. What were they talking about, no one had explained anything to me, I was quite clearly in the dark.

"Even better reason to keep her close," Bill said.

"What about Jason?" I asked, suddenly remembering that these people were not kind or my friends and that my brother's life was still on the line.

Pam seemed to be thinking of a response. "I'll have to talk to Eric, but we won't touch your brother until we figure out what's going on."

"So you'll let him go?"

She laughed at me. "You're quite the forward one aren't you? I'm rather impressed that you clearly came to a bar to try to save your brother." Somehow this woman had a lot of say on what was going on. I'd only seen her mingle with a few people, but it was clear that they people were far more educated than I had previously thought.

They were worlds away from Jason, which was somewhat alluring in its own way. "They'd kill someone without a second thought though," I reminded myself.

And they had money if this woman's get-up was any indication.

Maybe they were more than just drug dealers. Bill looked like he would have shot those bouncers without a second thought and the way he held his gun screamed macho mob man to me. And the way the guards just answered him, granted he did have a gun to their heads. Maybe these were like, mafia members or something. "Shit, Jason, what have you dragged me into," I thought.

"No, we'll not let him go, your brother has offended us on many, many occasions. I said he won't be touched until further notice." Exactly something from a crime family would say.

I wanted to argue with her, but I realized that I was in no position to really do so. Before I could say anything Bill had his hand on the crook of my elbow and was dragging me through the door. He released me all too soon.

I had little control over this situation, and to say I wasn't the bit intrigued by all of this would be a lie. I could take one day off of work, and of course, it'd be for the safety of my brother, I reminded myself. The blossoming of a thought was occurring in the back of my mind and I was currently doing all I could to stomp it out before it grew into something else. Deep down I wanted to go with him, with them, even though I knew I could never trust them.

Bill checked his phone often. And then he asked if he could me a drink on the way out. Jason be damned.

TBC


	2. Chapter II

A/N: Same disclaimer as Chapter I. Also, a note at the end of the chapter. Eric makes an appearance in this chapter, finally.

Chapter II

"Bobby's been sent back to De Castro." The voice whispered. I thought for a moment someone was talking to me, but they continued without a response from me.

My eyelids were sticking together and I felt like I hadn't opened my mouth in over a month— it was dry and pasty. I knew right away that I hadn't moved much while I slept because my neck protested against the sudden movement I made when I realized that I had no clue where I was or how I'd gotten there.

"Shh, you'll wake her."

"So?" Asked a female voice, one that I vaguely recognized.

The night before all came rushing back to me, except that a large portion of it was actually missing from my memory. There was nothing there, no trigger or hazy image to jog my memory. My mind was blank of memory for almost the entire latter part of my night, unlike blacking out due to alcohol. My brain fumbled and tripped over ideas as I tried to place together how I could be missing such a large portion of my memory when all I could remember was having one stinking drink.

Now a bit more awake, it all hit me. I'd clearly been drugged. My body tensed up so quickly and so tightly I thought I was going to spill stomach acid out of my empty tummy off of the sofa I was lying on. Jason had been kidnapped and I'd try to get him free. I'd gone to a bar alone to save him. He was obviously dealing drugs for these very well off and dangerous people and they had refused to let him go. Refused to let him go and were killers. And drug smugglers that had no problem using who knows what kinds of drugs for drugging people.

My hand shot down, checking to make sure that I was wearing clothing. I was in my crumbled clothing from last night, but after checking, I confirmed that I still wore the same undergarments from last night. I hadn't been raped or at least I didn't think so.

I could feel my own tortuous past sneaking up on me like a shadow. I'd been sexually assaulted as a teenager. Would I even be able to tell if I had been assaulted again? Would someone do that and put my clothes back on me? Would they leave me on a sofa with a blanket? Was that some sort of sick joke? I was furious and completely lost at the same time. I wanted to cry but I couldn't. I wouldn't let myself.

My bag was still next to me, the same purse I'd grabbed before going out to Jason's place. The same bag that I placed my gun into.

Gun. I'd shot someone last night. I moaned a bit, feeling like I'd absolutely become a different person in a matter of hours and knowing that I probably wouldn't ever be the same person anyway. Jason was clearly still missing and I was in an unknown loft, I was far from completing my job. I was terrified. All I wanted to do was shove my face into the familiar scent of my own pillow at my own apartment and make this all go away.

I looked around, presumably hearing Bill and Pam talking someplace in this loft. By how loudly they were talking they must have been a bit further. This place had a lot of light coming in through large industrial windows and it looked a lot like the bar from last night. My stomach turned and loudly grumbled at my thinking of the similarities.

I had been placed on a cream suede sofa, low to the ground with a throw thrown over me. I'd clearly been tucked in. A small table, rug, desk, and other pieces of finely made furniture were in the section I was in. all of it was divided off by a folding Japanese screen in a dark blood red. The ceilings were high and I could see a large corkscrew staircase spiraling up through the ceiling in the distance. I wondered if the person who owned the bar last night had the same interior designer. The similarities really were quite noticeable, as was its size. There must be more floors than just this one, which already felt larger than my apartment I shared with Amelia.

Amelia. I'd have to contact her. I couldn't bare the thought of dragging her into this. She knew something was up last night, though. Maybe I could forego a serious conversation and just text her something to get me by a day off at work and to keep her distracted. That seemed like the best case scenario and I didn't even know if I had my cell phone. Digging into my purse for the first time I found that I indeed did not have my phone. Big surprise there.

I heard footsteps and then the soft sound of the leather divider scrapping against the floor.

The man named Bill I recognized from the night before came into view around the Japanese style divider. He was once again dressed in a gorgeous brown suite with a light blue dress shirt underneath. He had forgone a tie or it was still too early to put one on as he was probably still getting ready for the day. He was much taller than I remembered, but being on the sofa, feeling violated, did seem to make his height more dominant at that moment, I realized.

His dark eyes found mine staring at him— he knew that I was awake.

"You drugged me!" I yelled at him vehemently, my voice scratchy and hoarse from disuse. He didn't even look shocked or try to look remorseful. He kept the same clean look on his face. He didn't look uninterested but clearly he had little remorse.

He stood silent for a beat and then opened his mouth to speak. "I was only doing what I had been told to do. I follow very direct orders. Last night was a lot more complicated than it appeared to someone in your... understanding." So he was willing to admit it but still no remorse. I was fuming.

"More complicated? You kidnapped my brother and you drugged me! Do you understand how violated I feel? You drugged me," I repeated. How thick was this guy's head? He seemed completely underwhelmed by anything I was saying.

I felt my eyes tear up a bit, stinging the dry corners of my eyes. This was unbelievable. "You. Drugged. Me." Two more large men came into the shared space looking like they were ready to pounce on the situation to calm things down, both irritating me and scaring me a bit. These people meant business. Whether or not they'd hurt me was something I really didn't want to find out.

Bill waved them off and both of them nodded, understanding his spoken dismissal. I realized that they looked like bouncers. They had to be body guards of some type. How much money did you have to have to own two body guards, I wondered.

I looked back at him and I saw something crack on the surface. Something he was trying to keep together fell apart in that moment and he did look regretful and almost pained. His thin lips pursed together tightly and his eyes glanced to hold my own and then he quickly looked away. "Yes, I do, as a matter of fact."

"What?"

"I said I do understand how you're feeling. How it feels to have part of your ability to make choices taken away from you."

"I'm not talking about some type of hypothetical, ambiguous, loss of control. You deliberately drugged me and I am, in reality, missing memories from last night." His demeanor had changed a bit and it appeared as though he was possibly opening up a bit more to me. But I was far down the road of being rational at this point. Clearly I was going to have to go under hypnosis or some other hoo ha to reclaim my memories from last night.

"You had no right to. You took advantage of me. What have I ever done to you or anyone you're working with?"

"We don't play like that, we don't play fair. Someone you know, Jason, has messed with us and therefore you are just as response for the problem," a woman's voice said. Pam came around the same divider. Just how many damn people were there at this loft? Was I actually at an office or something of some sort? Pam was just as beautiful and petite as I remembered her being., I thought. Her blond hair was delicately pulled up in a lose chiffon. She couldn't have been much older than myself. I feel sick as I watched her eyes raked over my form quickly and then she frowned. Her logic made so much sense to her but she was much more calm than I remember her being last night.

"You had no right at all. This is insane!" I repeated with as much feeling as I could muster. I had to have these people understand how I was feeling.

"You're a grown woman, are you not? Maybe it would do you good to learn to take care of yourself better," she said. That struck a nerve. To imply that this was somehow my fault was absurd. I had only been wanting to help my brother.

"It was your decision to help your brother," she said as if she had heard my thoughts. "Being smart and taking care of yourself sometimes means letting things or people go, you know," Pam said. She was insane. This was nothing like the common courtesy you learned growing up.

"Take care of myself? You don't know anything about me. I've been taking care of myself for years. You don't know my past or my history or my brother. We've done a damn good job of surviving"

"And what do you think we're doing then? We, just like you, are just trying to survive," she calmly tried to rationale. She finally sighed a long, deep sigh. She knew that I was not going to give up easily on this topic, nor should I. She brought her tiny hands up and cracked her knuckles, taking a moment before continuing to speak. A strong determination blazed in her eyes after that moment.

"Maybe you can't see it now, but we did what we had to. We know what your brother has done, and if you want to see him or help him then you best cooperate with us." She had jumped to the point, the one that would make me shut up. Play nicely or Jason and or myself would be killed. It was eerie how there wasn't anything necessarily terrifying or scary about these people aside from the entire situation that I had found myself in.

I closed my opened mouth silently as I contemplated arguing, yelling, anything, but I decided against it. I watched her smirk. She was proud of getting me to see her way, in one way or another it seemed.

"Good" She chirped in a much more upbeat voice. "Now get dressed and have some breakfast, no doubt you'll need your strength today. We have some use of you and no doubt Eric will want to see what all the fuss is about with this situation," she concluded with an air of finality.

"Bill, see to it that she gets some food."

Great, the last person I wanted to spend my time with, I thought.

* * *

><p>Pam had been kind enough to leave some clothes out for me, although how she had anything remotely my size was beyond me. She was shorter than me and a life time closer to size zero than I would ever be. For holding me and my brother hostage, they at least seemed eager to keep me decently sated, aside from intense bouts of anger because of the drugging.<p>

After changing and moving around a bit it was evident that this place was the entire floor of the building. Walking up to the massive floor to ceiling windows informed me that I had to be at least 12 floors up and the building looked like one of those old warehouse buildings off of Sixth that I sometimes saw while driving around. Looking down I saw an ashtray with a newly put out cigarette butt, it's smoke wafting up into the vents above. I didn't smoke, and I didn't care for it, but working around and being friends with enough smokers had make me complacent to the stuff.

Bill was easy enough to find in the open spaced loft. He stood out like a brown blob amongst the otherwise gray interior. He was cooking what looked to be eggs and I was surprised that he even knew how to cook, not that eggs were a difficult task by any means. By the looks of things he was probably in his early 30s, although he had no wedding ring.

I sat myself on a stool a part of the kitchen bar. He swung around to meet me. I wasn't used to having people do things for me. I couldn't remember the last time someone had cooked me breakfast. Under different circumstances this may have been extremely romantic. I could feel myself blushing lightly. He was a very strong and handsome looking man.

Upon closer inspection, the eggs looked like they'd been slaughtered. He frowned at them and then looked up at me. "I tried my best." He plated them and went to get me a cup of coffee. "I don't usually eat breakfast," he said lamely. Who didn't eat breakfast? Gran always said that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. No wonder he looked so sour.

At least the coffee was good.

Leaning against the wall next to the stainless steel fridge, Bill watched me eat silently. I was a bit spooked by it, but I also figured he was told to watch me so I wouldn't escape. The loft looked normal enough, for an extremely wealthy person, but who knew what types of booby traps or other body guards were just waiting around for me to fidget in the wrong way.

"So, you smoke?" I assumed, thinking about the recently put out butt. Might as well start somewhere.

He shook his head, sipping at his own black coffee. "Eric."

There was that name again. I felt myself tingle a bit. There was something obviously intriguing about this guy. He was just so mysterious and he was here it appeared. Out of sight but not out of my mind.

"Is this his place?" I wondered vaguely if he owned the bar I'd gone to last night as well.

Bill looked hesitant about answering. "I'm just a woman, I'm not going to bring down your little empire by getting a few questions answered," I snapped. "You did drug me," I threw in as motivation for quick responses. I raised my eyebrows and he glared back at me, seemingly surprised by my snarly response.

"You are quite… verbal." I looked at him, unblinking. "Yes, this is Eric's place."

Interesting, I thought, I'd been brought to the boss's place. I wanted to do a little dance but realized quickly how absurd that would be and how insane my thinking was. These were dangerous people, I reminded myself. Just because they saw it fit to bring me here, of all places, didn't really mean anything.

"Why isn't he here then?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"He's very busy. This also isn't his only residence." That was surprising and this also meant that he'd already left. He couldn't have been here for more than a few minutes. I had thought that perhaps he was still here, just hidden away on another floor. This place had to be massive. The hole in the ceiling letting the stairs through looked like there were at lest three floors incorporated with this place.

"Northside isn't his only business either," Bill added. This surprised me, why was he giving me so much information. "I figured you want some information and it's the least I can do for drugging you," he finished, a bit more remorse in his deep voice.

"When will I see him, Eric that is."

"Soon, perhaps later on this evening."

"I have work, a life, things to do," I snapped. I couldn't just let everything go.

"Well, it's best that you cancel that then. Tonight you are otherwise occupied. We need you to do some work for us… and for Jason," he said.

I found myself laughing quite bitterly at his comment and the sound of it shocked me— I wasn't normally a bitter person. But of course, I was working for Jason— Jason's life that was. At least he tried to word it a little more friendly than Pam had made it seem earlier.

"Bobby's being taken care of, by the way. He was flown over to De Castro last night." Bill's eyes appeared to have a bit of laughter in them as he recalled Bobby. I was glad. But this also meant that there was a good chance I'd be sent over to De Castro as well for breaking his man.

"So what the hell is my brother in trouble for?" I asked, skipping the possibility that I may be killed sometime in the near future.

Bill was back to looking as though he wasn't going to say anything. "Really, you just assumed I wanted information and gave me some but obviously not all of it," I heard myself said.

"Your brother has been working for Eric's drug men for about 5 years now." This surprised me. I thought for sure that this was a new job that Jason had started.

"He handles drugs?" I asked, clearly disturbed by the fact that my brother had been handling drugs for about five years without me even suspecting anything.

"No, he doesn't handle the drugs per say. We have lower end guys that do that. He meets with the smuggler's bosses. He doesn't do business meetings, but he goes to locations and ensures that the exchanges have been completed. He'll secure locations and or pick them. He doesn't actually touch the drugs."

"Oh, sure, he doesn't physically touch them, that makes me feel so much better," I said sarcastically. "So what happened?"

"He signed off on a deal saying that it had been completed and that the money was indeed in our hands. It weren't."

"If it's money I can pay the money if this is what it's about," I offered, probably sounding more optimistic than I had since meeting him.

"No, you couldn't pay this. This is more money than most people make in a lifetime," he said a bit grimly. He didn't sound cocky saying it but I decided to believe him if he said it was a lot of money.

I was already racking my brain trying to figure out how I could possibly get that much money to get Jason back. On a waitress's earnings there was no way that I could do this one my own. I knew Amelia's family had a lot of money, but this wasn't an instance where I could ask to borrow something that I wouldn't be able to make a dent in paying back.

"His partner is also missing," Bill added quietly, disturbing my thoughts. Ah, now there was the rub. I didn't care to ask if missing meant thought to be dead or what.

"Are you sure that Jason was the person signing off on all of this? What if someone is trying to frame him?"

"We have video footage of him signing it." Bill looked like he pitied me. Maybe Jason was guilty. The thought made me ill. Him asking me to go grab what sounded like half a million from his house did sound sketch as fuck. How did he even have that type of money lying around and why hadn't he bought a house if with or something. I shook my head, realizing I'd finished all of my eggs. I was glad I'd been talking while eating them, allowing me the chance to not think about how horrible they tasted.

A man then came through the front door, quite large, followed by a woman dressed in a finely tailored navy blue dress and heels. He was her bodyguard I assumed, which meant she was someone of decent importance. Her lips were painted a bright red and her hair looked as though it'd be styled to fit into the 40s but was a shockingly white blond color. She must be a blond, but had died it even lighter.

"Clancy," Bill nodded in greeting. "And Lorena," he added, much more friendly than his Clancy greeting but still quite boring. It was Bill greeting her that I realized he had a slight drawl in his voice, an accent perhaps. How unusual.

The woman named Lorena glared at me, looking me up and down. A difficult task when the kitchen bar was hiding most of me. While my attire usually lacked, Pam had left me in a very nice crème colored dress that I thought looked very nice with my extremely noticeable tan. This woman clearly had little to go about on judging me. I disliked her already. If she was judging me then I'd just judge her back just as quickly.

"Who's this, Bill?" She asked, coming up behind Bill and familiarly placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch, but he didn't look too comfortable either. "Lorena, this is Sookie, she'll be staying with us for some time."

Lorena looked pissed when he said this. "Sookie," she said slowly. I could see the evil wheels in her head moving, albeit slowly. "With you, I assume?"

"Yes, until Eric says otherwise."

"Did you offer or did Eric ask you to?" She asked, her sweet voice betraying a bit of her jealous side. "Crazy, psycho bitch," I thought. I had no urge to be anything with Bill. Although handsome he was still dangerous and was holding my brother hostage and had drugged me nonetheless. He had a strange heir of always seeming disinterested, even when being nice. All of a sudden he looked up at me and looked a bit apologetic, although, again, a bit disconnected.

"Lorena." He said no more and she appeared to know that this meant to shut up. I was surprised that she followed his insistent command. At least I knew she was someone's bitch and I didn't necessarily have to listen to her if she was following Bill's orders.

Lorena huffed and stomped away. I bet she thought wasn't stomping, but her cadence was much heavier than when she had first entered the loft.

"Don't let her bother you, she's a bit high maintenance," he said, sounding a bit hopeful. I cringed a bit, knowing she had left but no doubt could hear his words in this open setting. Maybe he really did care little for her.

"I want to see to it that you do understand how to care for yourself, how to protect yourself," he said, a bit more gently than before. "Especially after last night. Drugging you was not something I did with a clean conscious, Sookie. I'd like to get to know you better" This statement caught me completely off guard. Clancy, who still stood by the door with his arms crossed also looked skeptical. I saw him look me over as Lorena had done and appeared to find something of interest. Which suited me just fine, but it also made Clancy look a bit pompous as well.

Now Clancy knew I'd been drugged as well. Who didn't know?

"The only people I need protection from are you people," I found myself saying. How strange. Why would he care for me or about me? He had offered to take me in last night as well, and although I didn't trust him he did appear to be trying his best to be at least nice, although it seemed to be a personal struggle for him.

"Maybe some self defense. Some gun welding lessons," he suggested, clearly hoping I'd just say yes. He wasn't demanding it. My eyebrows must have disappeared into my hairline. Gun training? "Just a visit to the shooting range, perhaps?"

"I don't think I need help welding a gun that I don't intend to use."

"Eric wants to keep you at the bar, gather information from talk going around at his locations. No one knows you and it's always good to have unrecognizable informants." Ah, so here was the entire truth, the truth I'd been waiting for— my task. Listen in on some of his sketchy clients and then report back to him.

"Eric will discuss it further with you, but I insist that you stay with me. Other people may offer to care for you but I must insist that you stay with me." How strange. It was almost like he was interested in me. Maybe Lorena truly did mean nothing. Felt like he was hitting on me a bit. I felt myself warming a bit to the thought, although it was a very small feeling— I felt much like a toy of his suddenly. "I can give you a place to stay, everything that you'll need while working for Eric, away from De Castro." Maybe I was a pet of some sort. I snorted at the idea, but he ignored it if he noticed.

I don't plan on staying here and as gentlemanly this offer seems I'm not settling down into something I don't understand even a little bit. I bet he thought explaining just the tip of iceberg in this situation would have me crawling to him. I look up and realize he's clearly waiting for me to say something in response to his gallant effort to "protect" me.

"We'll see." He seemed surprise at my almost refusal.

"I need a phone, I have to call my roommate, let her know I'm pretty much alive and have her move my work schedule around. If this is really how things are going to be then I better figure out how to accommodate my real life into this nightmare."

Bill went to search for my cell phone, I assumed, while Clancy watched over me. I didn't dare move, not as if there was anything to keep my interest around anyway. He returned and I quickly found that all the numbers in my phone had been erased except Amelia's and in it were now Eric, Bill and Pam's numbers. I was so annoyed at discovering this.

When Bill left me alone to take care of my phone calls I threw my phone on the floor in complete frustration, not caring the loud clatter it made. No one came running to see what the noise was or to see me fuming and throwing a fit. I guess I was lucky that Amelia's number was at least still in there.

After calling her I had explained to her that I was staying with Jason back home with Gran because she had suddenly become ill, thank god that wasn't the real case. She asked me multiple times if I needed anything and I told her no, although it did occur to me to ask her for a money loan a few times, but I didn't. Amelia, being the great roommate she was, had already called in work to tell them that I would miss tonight, just as I had alluded to yesterday. She agreed to do the same for the rest of the week and apologized in advance if my boss didn't exactly accommodate my missing days. She seemed to understand that I would distraught and in no condition to really talk to my boss.

There was a good chance I was going to lose my job over this fiasco. At least I had Amelia to delay things for a bit in terms of shifts. She did most of this without many questions, which was thankful as she was often times incredibly nosey. I didn't need any one else involved in this. The fact that she wasn't asking questions also led me to believe that she must have known something else was going on.

"Alcide came by earlier," she mentioned excitedly in her "this is obviously scandalous" voice. I "hmm"ed into the receiver, knowing that I had little time to finish my conversation before someone came in. "Yeah, I know!" she said enthusiastically. "He was awfully surprised that you weren't here." Of course he did, he thought that I had left with that stupid Bobby fellow the night before at Northside's.

"He said that he'd come back another day."

Drug problems, boy problems, work problems and a multitude of other problems. I chatted quickly with Amelia about a few other things before I regretfully said goodbye to her, wondering when would be the next time I could call her, if at all.

* * *

><p>I tried escaping the loft almost every hour but the security guards were well placed and must had known what I would try to do. It was like they were anticipating my escape— granted I had been screaming about being drugged all morning and was probably tagged as a high-risk problem.<p>

Aside from still being a bit scared out of my mind I was also bored to death. When I given a form fitting red dress and moved to a limo, the first one I'd ever been in, I was almost giddy.

"Don't look so excited, it makes me sick," Thalia, a woman I had met before being put into the limo at the loft, said. She was quite blunt and truly appeared to dislike me. Surprisingly enough, she was the tiniest of all the women I had met, and unlike Lorena and Pam, a brunette. Unlike Pam and Bill, I tried to ignore her as best as possible. She acted sort of like a bodyguard, which I was unsure of if she was. She was not nearly as friendly with the rest of the staff I'd met and acted pretty much like a bodyguard.

This limo ride couldn't have been ruined anymore unless Lorena also joined us. Clearly I had thought this too soon, because a moment before leaving Bill and Lorena joined us. I bit my lip.

Lorena huffed and made a fuss about getting in and moved sides of the cars twice before she settled. Thalia, who I had thought disliked me, looked at me and rolled her eyes. How ironic, it seemed that we both had something in common: the dislike of Lorena.

I mostly listened to the conversations, which consisted mostly of Lorena running her mouth and Bill answering when he deemed appropriate. Only rarely did Thalia make a comment on anything.

"Will Eric be here tonight?" Lorena asked, her eyes finding mine, narrowing with spite.

"Yes."

"Hmm," was all she said. "He usually doesn't come in on Sundays, how unusual," she added after a few beats.

I hid my laugh with a cough, not caring a bit that it was poorly covered. I could care less of when Eric worked. As someone who had worked in many businesses, it didn't surprise me that he would be working on some Sundays. Lorena looked like she had always been rich and obviously didn't know the first thing about running a business.

Lorena glared at me, and I smiled sweetly back at her. Maybe she saw me as some threat. I looked back over to Bill who was staring disinterestedly out the window, neither interested in her nor myself, confusing me immensely.

When I saw that we were pulling up in front of Northside's I felt a bit more disgusted with myself because I knew I'd be doing dirty work soon but also because there was a chance I'd be meeting this mysterious Eric and this made my tummy flutter. I felt like a hoe.

We were dropped off in front and Pam was at the front door with the body guard I recognized to be Clancy. He looked pretty bored and Pam looked distracted, not even seeing us until we were in front of her. I was pretty surprised to see her out front, seeing how important she was to Eric and because it was still before dinner time.

"I hate when girls wear tacky red to bars on Sundays before dinner. Over dressed," she whispered loudly to Bill who was at her side. I knew she was saying it because it was what I was wearing, although I didn't feel self-conscious at all. The dress was indeed a bit much for a bar before dinnertime when there were still a bit of casual costumers lingering around, but knowing that it pissed off Lorena made it well worth it.

"I like it," Pam said briefly with a smirk, looking me up and down. She was talking about my dress and I thought. It hadn't occurred to ask where it had come from when Thalia had brought it in at the loft. I heard Lorena sigh deeply behind me. I turned around and gave her another one of my huge smiles, surely pissing her off. Bill was oblivious to the entire thing.

Once I turned back around my smile was completely gone. I was unsure of what was going on, and for someone who liked being in charge and being independent, there was a lot of unknown still going on.

"Just go get yourself a drink, we'll come get you in a bit," Bill told me. I saw the words freedom flash before my eyes and I looked back to the door. "Don't try to leave either, we have both security and body guards combing this place every second." And with that he took off to the back, leaving Lorena next to me.

She scoffed at me and turned her back, heading towards a few sofas that were occupied with some young men. Her relationship with Bill was confusing to say the least.

I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb now, some of Lorena's words seemed to ring true.

I wasn't a heavy drinker, and the idea of having a drink so early when all I'd had all day was some crummy eggs and coffee was a bit off putting. I wasn't interested in sitting and chatting with people either, which was the only two activities currently going on.

I went to bar anyway, wanting a place to sit down and rest my feet. At any luck this fiasco would been over soon and I'd be able to wear some footwear other than heels. This place was every bit as classy and filled to the brim with peopled dressed just as Clancy and Thalia were: as bodyguards. Aside from the few that I could count there appeared to be normal costumers as well, laughing it up with drinks and mingling. Northside appeared to be booming.

Depressed and two drinks later I found myself swaying to the music.

A very handsome man with black hair in a black shirt and dark jeans came up to me. "Can I buy you a drink?" he asked, his voice a bit raspy. Something about the way he asked made me believe that he was kind. A double take at his body made me feel a bit frisky.

If my job for Eric was to chat up costumers and bring him back niblets of information, I may as well enjoy myself as I did it.

"Well, ok, then." I agreed. The man gave me a dazzling smile, highlighting his boyish charms. Maybe I was drunk.

"What brings you to a bar here alone?" He asked, buying me a vodka cranberry, which I took with no real qualms.

"Can't a girl go out on her own? I happen to be very independent," I said with a smirk, quite proud of my independent streak.

"Well, little lady, I am Sam, and you are?" He asked, charmingly catching my hand as it fluttered across between us.

"Sookie. What about you, what are you doing here?"

"Little old me? I'm a cop, just decided to stop by, grab a drink." I nervously looked to the bar tender when he said that. A cop. I was certain that he could hear my heartbeat in my chest and ask me something that would end up with my brother and me dead.

I sipped at my drink, attempting to keep my cool.

Just then a loud commotion broke out near the sofa area, the same place that Lorena had shimmied her way into. A smaller man was yelling at a taller, dark haired man. It looked intense, like they were going to come to blows— which they did moments after I thought it.

I gasped, throwing my hand up. Sam gave me an apologetic look and got up, probably ready to interfere. At the same time, many of the security guards and my very own body guards, Thalia and Clancy, ran over to break up what was fast becoming a brawl at an upscale bar.

In an instant I realized that this was my chance to escape. The clouds were parting and the door at Northsides almost seemed to glow. The door was even opening for me. In reality someone else was walking in, but by god this was my chance. I'd figure out the Jason problem later, the first step to his survival was me surviving.

I hopped off the bar, downed the rest of my vodka cranberry, making a disgusting face to relieve my pain and grabbed my purse. I began to gain a bit of speed, maneuvering around the people who were rushing to break up the brawl or just get a closer look. I didn't care.

I took one quick look behind me just before I'd reached the door to make sure that no one was following me and then stopped instantly as I ran into a wall.

I'd quite literally crashed into someone. Instantly I began to tumble down, my ankle twisting a bit in the process. This person I'd practically ran into was much taller than me and was currently holding my wrists above my head to keep me from falling. When had he even moved to do that, I wondered. I quickly readjusted my weight so that I was no longer in danger of losing my balance. In the back of my head, aside from noticing how delicious it felt to be held like this, I realized that his easily fit around both my wrists and that he was not letting the go. His scent was flooding my nostrils, and for once I feel completely at a loss of what to do, for a second, before I regain my composure. Maybe this is what walking into love felt like. I felt completely warm and protected in his strangely dominant embrace until he opened his mouth to speak.

"Tsk tsk tsk, leaving so early, I haven't even caught your name" The voice said. Really, that was his completely asshole line after this perfect moment? I looked up into the most gorgeous blue eyes I'd ever seen in my life and a dab of the annoyance floats away. He was also quite likely one of the tallest men I'd ever met as well, almost a complete foot taller than me.

His large hands moved from my wrists to my arms, firmly caressing them. I was insanely aroused and this man was beyond gorgeous. I realized that my body was pushed quite firmly against his.

'"Well," he asked again, waiting for a response. How rude!

I instantly moved away from his chest and I can feel him pulling me back towards him gently but with enough force that I plop back against him, my boobs smashing against his hard chest. He quite literally growls at the pressure. This guy is a complete pig, I realize. He's the most breathtaking individual I've seen quite possibly ever, but so far he's digging himself into a massive hole. As I look down of course he was wearing the most fashionable sweater over a collared shirt and tie, gray slacks and the greatest shoes I'd ever seen. Good looks, great scent, kinky hold, protective embrace and he was a complete tool.

"I'm Eric," he murmured quietly, his eyes still looking into mine. The way he said it make me feel like perhaps this was a bit rehearsed. Pity, I thought, there was no way that he could actually be as attracted to me as I was to him. That went against all laws of chemistry.

Sure enough, Pam slithered her way up to us, surprised by the he was holding me, no doubt. Eric didn't even budge. "I see you've found Sookie."

Eric's looked back down at me quickly, a flash of surprise on his face before he looked back up at Pam with a completely boyish grin on his face. He looked delighted before straightening his façade into that of someone cool and collected.

"How lucky to have run into you, Miss Stackhouse." A glimmer of that grin lingered in his eyes. Finally and all too soon he let go of me and began to walk to the back. Pam followed and I looked longingly at the door once before following both of them. Bill joined me at some point down the hall.

* * *

><p>Eric's office looked like he lived in it. There was a massive stack of papers organized into metal baskets on his large desk, a large fridge in the corner and more than a few sofas. It was all beautifully decorated, but heavily lived in. His walls were lined with what appeared to be silhouettes of women's bodies contorted into the most unattractive positions, painted in grays and blacks. What a tool. I'm sure he'd answer that it was art when asked, when in reality he was a pervert.<p>

His art taste seemed to coincide with the incident we'd shared outside.

He sat behind his desk, lighting up a cigarette and thumbed through some paperwork on his desk. They were all photos with hand written notes on them. He took his time, and neither Pam nor Bill said a word.

"My brother?" I asked, deciding that I wasn't going to give this guy more power to stroke his evident ego than necessary.

My question didn't seem to faze him and he continued taking drags of his cigarette until he finally looked up, his gaze much sharper than I anticipated.

"Yes, we have him, what about him?" Stubborn asshole, I thought. "We'll also ignore the fact that I caught you while you were trying to escape." This pompous bastard needed to get off his high horse. All of my problems were directly connected to this Viking of a man behind this desk.

"When will you release him?" A genuinely shocked look filtered across Eric's flawless face, his thick blond eyebrows creasing. He looked thoughtful before responding.

"It was my understanding that Bill has already explained to you the circumstances under which your brother has been held and what we expect of you."

"When will I be able to see him?" I asked, a bit annoyed that everyone appeared to be having the same type of conversation with me. I was also irked that he was beating around the bush, as that was not what I'd asked.

"Soon. He's actually with his other employer currently, I'm sure that he'd like a phone call." I turned and glared at Bill. Of course, all this time my brother hadn't been locked up, being tortured and to top it all of I could have just called him. Just fucking fantastic, I angrily thought. A second later I realized that perhaps Eric was being sarcastic. I wanted to throw something. The only thing my hand could find was my purse, but I resisted the urge to knock Bill out, even though Eric was also responsible.

"Just fucking great, thanks for letting me know hours ago after worrying that I could have just called him."

Eric gave Bill a curious look. "I was told you'd been informed everything," Eric said, casually glaring at Bill. I shook my head. Bill looked awkward sitting there with Eric angry with him.

"Interesting. Well, yes, Jason's gone back to De Castro. He's completing some work there." Pam also appeared to be surprised by this information, as her eyebrows also went up alongside mine. She didn't say anything though.

"De Castro? Then what am I doing here? Why am I being held prisoner?"

"You're not being held prisoner, you're here or your own protection," Eric scoffed. "And to help work off the debt that your brother still owes us." He said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Protection?"

"Surely you've realized that you're being followed on a regular basis?" My heart almost sprang out of my chest hearing this. He seemed surprised at my reaction. "Hm, I just assumed that you knew and just didn't deem it a high enough threat."

"No! I didn't know this." After a moment I realized that Eric could very well be lying to me to get me to stay here and work for them. Not that I seemed to have any choice in the matter.

"You're a very easy person to get information on as well and or have followed," he said, holding up a photo from his stack of my apartment with me talking to Amelia outside in front. I was wearing my uniform for the restaurant, so it couldn't have been taken more than two weeks ago as I had just started that job.

Could I really question who was telling the truth when it came to my safety as well as my brother's impending freedom? Who was I supposed to be afraid of in this situation, some mysterious group stalking me or this group that was seriously ambiguous about everything and were holding me hostage.

"You're not the one's following me, then, you mean?" I asked for clarification.

"No," Pam answered. "We had these photos taken of you once, perhaps twice, but that was only because of Jason." Her voice was the only one that sounded like she really cared.

"We know who is following you, but their affiliations do not match. To us they look like random people who are working together, there's something else that they're doing and someone else that we don't know that they're working for," Bill said, frustrated by this knowledge.

Eric nodded in agreement. "Since you've been staying with us, we've noticed a high amount of activity at both at your apartment and work place. All with members of high interest of us," Eric said, sounding superbly pissed off. He looked a bit frightening for a second. I did not wish to be the subject of his intense ire, especially with his size.

"Like who?"

"People that I do work with. People hire us mostly for protection, people with money, and we provide it. It is my first and foremost business endeavor. This bar, your brother's jobs, those are just side gigs." He seemed so cocky saying all of this, like I was supposed to be in awe of his blood ties. "I own other business as well," he added, winking at me. The nerve this man had, treating me like this. But that wasn't the most interesting piece of information I'd heard.

"You tag them?" I asked, unbelieving.

"Yes, I have a lot of money at risk. It's important for me to know where every member of my staff is as well as who I do business with locations."

"And that's legal?" I asked, incredulously before I could stop it from tumbling out of my mouth. Pam almost giggled. I had asked a completely idiotic question and that I already knew the answer to.

"Miss Stackhouse, many things that I do are not, shall we say, 'legal.'" He shot me a gorgeous, toothy smile and I felt my heart melt besides the information he'd just spilled.

"So what now?"

"You work for me, picking up information. Like we said, we keep tabs on our people on the floor," Eric said, smoothly laying out his expectations with a defiant edge. Electronics failed, but Sookie, the living girl would not, they meant to say. He was too proud to acknowledge that all the money he invested in this tracking was not yielding his desired results.

"That's where you come in," Pam offered.

A bit of reporting from Bill and Pam to Eric seemed to take place after that. I felt a bit more optimistic than I had in hours. Overall I felt less threatened, and while I was still in immediate danger and working (mostly) against my will, I was no longer terrified out of my mind.

Eric was cocky and full of himself, but over the next fifteen minutes or so I watched him skillfully solve issues and plan other happenings for his multiple businesses. To say I was impressed was an understatement, although I wouldn't be caught dead admitting this to him. The way, which he ordered his workers around and gave even mundane orders, was done with such ease and competence. His security either respected him or feared him, although it could have been both. His sheer gorgeous body and face didn't help any of it either. For the moment he seemed all business and I was rather surprised when he dismissed Pam and Bill but asked me to stay behind.

I had resolved that as soon as I was alone I would call Jason and tell him about my part in helping him free up his debt. I also had to call Amelia.

Bill glanced at me once more before leaving the room, looking like he wanted to say something but didn't.

Being alone with Eric, my thoughts immediately went to sex. I was just a woman and while I sometimes seemed to attract males they were always males with issues, case and point Eric. He was sex on legs, and even I couldn't refuse to accept the sheer adulterated lust I felt for this man. It had been months since I had slept with anyone, if not a year. Alcide had yet to really show any serious issues, but I barely knew him. At least with Eric I knew he was problem up front. The man, Sam, I had very briefly talked to the bar earlier, could very well be normal as well.

I felt myself sit up a bit more straight when they left the room. I was nervous to say the least. Eric came out and sat down next to me on the sofa, giving me a wide berth of space. His legs looked like they extended forever. I had the urge to move next to him and measure our legs against one another to see how much taller and larger he really was. Surely that height and overall body size was an accurate indicator of other pieces of anatomy.

I wanted to purr at the thought.

Eric had the nerve to pat his lap. "Care to join me?" He wanted me to sit on his lap. Part of me wanted to jump on. My rational side kept me in my own personal space.

"Why'd you have me drugged?" I asked suddenly.

"It was the simplest solution. I didn't know you." My confusion must have escaped to my face because he let out a small chuckle.

"You don't know me now," I countered.

He paused for a moment. "No, I don't, but I'd like to know you." Damn, Eric was the most forward and blunt. He felt closer somehow. He handed me his business card and I took it. I felt smug.

"Tomorrow you'll come back here, work the floor and bring me information," he said, completely smug and back to business. "You're staying at my place again, I have a room set aside for you, Pam will help you get settled. Call me if you need anything." I looked at the card. "I meant it, anytime. You'll not be alone often so it shouldn't be a problem."

I opened my mouth to protest, but I was quickly ushered out of the room by Thalia and we were being placed into the limo. I didn't even get to say goodnight, I thought sadly.

Eric surprised me when he pulled Thalia aside and told her, "Ensure her safety. That's your job now." Thalia didn't say a word.

* * *

><p>Thalia had jumped on me, shoving me down against the sticky leather seat and Bill was yelling at Pam to get down. I could feel the limousine skidding across the road at the wrong angle, sending shivers down my spine. We couldn't have been more than two blocks away from the bar.<p>

Another round of gunshots sounded and I resisted the urge to scream. The limo had stopped moving now and Thalia was pulling out a gun and handing another to Pam. Ironically I looked at Bill who gave me a reassuring smile. I was certain that the shooting range was sure to be in my future if I survived this.

Pam was holding the door open as Thalia was shooting around it. The limo was making that annoying dinging noise, signaling that the door was open. I wanted to help somehow but I saw there, knowing that there was little that I could do.

I stuck my head up a bit and came into contact with where the window had once been. I saw nearly six guys all of them shooting from cars across from us. They were not moving much either.

Thalia was exiting the car and Pam turned to me and said, "You stay here. Don't cause any more trouble!" I found this odd because until now I didn't know that I had been the cause of any trouble.

Bill wasn't in the cab anymore and that made up our party that had been heading back to Eric's. Now someone was shooting at us. I pressed myself back up against the seats, praying to god that bullets wouldn't penetrate the actual body of the car and somehow strike me. I wildly looked around the interior of the car and realized that it was empty.

Before I knew it someone, a man dressed in regular clothing squeezed through the window and grabbed me yelling, "Brigant, you, you!"

He had a gun but I didn't care, I started screaming as loudly as I could, thrashing against him and not hearing a word he said. He pulled the gun up and in an instant he had collided with my mouth. I bit down hard on his arm as he backhanded me with the other. I was dazed by the hit, panicking as I tried to get my body to follow my brain's frantic survival orders.

"You're coming with me," I heard him say.

He suddenly, silently slumped down next to me, unmoving. I kicked him a few times and he didn't stir. After the blow he must have been shot. I felt bile building up in my throat and I dry heaved a bit next to him, his black shirt becoming even darker with the stain of his blood.

Coughing, I realized that the shooting had stopped.

Someone stuck his or her head in the door and I screamed. It was just Thalia.

"God, Sookie, shut up, it's me." She looked at the man next to me, clearly dead. "Pam was right, you are trouble." She pulled me out of the car and left me standing there, moving about with Bill and Pam. "She is trouble," Thalia repeated into the receiver of her cell phone. I wanted to ask her whom she was talking about me with but I resisted my curiosity. I was usually loud and stubborn, I just felt beat down now.

I vaguely heard police sirens and wondered if we were going to run or what the protocol was on an incident like this. Maybe Pam had experience with attempted murders via massive gun sprees.

If we had been just regular people with no connection to racketeering, drug trafficking or a million other illegal things that Eric probably worked on, the police might have been a relief to see. But now, with someone dead sitting next to me, I just wanted to scream and run away.

Bill came up to me and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. His skin was almost the same color as mine, darkened from the sun. He didn't say anything, but his presence did make me feel a bit more at ease. A crowd was forming around the scene that had taken up the entire street. People were coming up us, asking if we needed anything. I mostly shook my head no, not willing my mouth to open and not trusting my eyes that any of this was actually real.

My throat felt like it had swelled up and couldn't let any air through, not that my chest seemed to be working properly. The police officer coming towards us put his hands up as if signaling that he wouldn't hurt us. How absurd, I thought. Even though everything appeared to be safe and had calmed down, I was hearing a loud rasping noise. I realized then that I was hyperventilating and that was me making that noise. The police officer's signal must have been for me to calm down.

Looking at the damage it appeared as though our limo was set diagonally across both lanes of traffic. About a hundred feet from it was a black Mercedes with its windows and body in similar condition to our limo's. The doors were open and I could clearly seen the driver of the car slumped over to one side, part of his neck missing. I wondered if they were all dead and if so, how many.

The next thing I was aware of was Pam wrapping me in a dingy brown blanket from where I had no idea it came and the officer walked straight up to Bill who seemed as cool and collected as ever. From the corner of my eye I saw, to my relief and surprise, Eric quickly maneuvering alongside the crowd that was now forming. We couldn't have been that far from Northside, but his prompt response took me back for a second. His eyes were moving precisely along the crime scene, professionally taking in tiny details and facts, probably. He never lost a beat in his step as he purposefully made his way towards Bill.

His deep blue gaze met mine a second later and he held it for all of a few seconds. I thought for a second that maybe he was going to come over to me, but Bill had approached him and I saw him turn his undivided attention to him. I felt a flash of what I could only describe as jealousy. My overworking brain stomped the feeing out quickly.

I could see their mouths moving quickly as they discussed something unknown and unable to be heard by me. I grossly desired to be able to read lips at that moment. More cop cars were pulling up finally, their sirens adding to the unsettling pressure in my head.

Thalia had joined Bill and Eric and Eric was doing a fine job at showing no resistance while shouting at her. Thalia didn't even flinch and nodded at the end of his outburst. I wondered what he was so upset about, but his quick glance over at me had me pondering if it had anything to do with me and me alone.

Pam pulled me alongside her to the curb to sit, also placing me closer to the men talking and thus closer to Eric. I immediately felt safer being just a few feet away from him. "Do not move from this spot. I'll be back personally to take you back tonight," she said.

"Where's Lorena?" I asked.

"You're in shock. Lorena wasn't with us." Pam looked confused but shook her head.

"How convenient," I said bitterly, loud enough for Pam to hear. Lorena seemed to be the only person who'd gone with us who wasn't leaving with us. She as probably whoring herself out to some guys back at Northside's. Pam's eyes went a little wide at my words and then she went to join the conversation.

I wanted to cry but found I couldn't. When had I become so reliant on these people and their false sense of security when all they had done was humiliate me and put me in danger?

My clothes were wet in what I could only imagine was blood, blood that wasn't mine. The feeling against my skin was revolting.

The first and only officer out of his car, the one that had been the first on the scene, appeared to recognize Eric and went over to him, shaking his hand. The man was at least half a foot shorter than Eric, and he entered in the conversation with Bill.

I definitely caught the name De Castro from their conversation as well as the word "dead." For the first time since Pam had moved me I wondered how many people had been killed. There were many more people in our entourage than what were on the sidewalk now. I caught Eric's gaze again. He briefly let his eyes wander over my form. I saw the crease in his forehead deepen.

The police officer was shaking his head as Eric began to speak to him again, a bit more quietly than before. I realized then that Eric was clearing this mess up, pulling whatever influential strings or ties to make this disappear and fall into the back headline of some newspaper as a random attack on some civilians. Eric had more power, manipulation, and influence than I had ever imagined and I was getting a first hand look at his swift exploitation. A sad thought crossed my mind, "Who wasn't involved with him, his businesses or his dirty money?"

My head was pounding in sync with my heart. Sure, these people hadn't been too mean, or done anything horrible, but I'd almost been killed and it was a direct result of Eric's problems. Jason, my blood relative, was hostage because of this same man. I had to be kidding myself if I believed for a second these people were anything less than what I had scoped them for the moment I met them.

This was too huge of a mess. I didn't think that they'd necessarily hurt Jason either. Deep down I was scared but after tonight, this was all too much and confusing. One moment I was ok with these people, and the next I was reminded that they were all killers.

I glanced around quickly, trying to be discrete. Pam was no where to be seen, and the body guards that had been in the vehicle with us were otherwise preoccupied. I assumed many would be busy for a while considering there were some people who had been killed here tonight.

I knew that Eric would see me missing sooner or later and thus it was important that I left now before he noticed and pulled some chauvinistic move that I had no plan to put up with. I wasn't going to allow any of this blood money help me through my day any longer.

Making sure both he and Bill were busy in discussion, I got up and walked back to Northside. As I waked further away the buzzing in my ears got louder and louder and I fought the pull to turn around.

The valet guy looked at me strangely when I reached his little umbrella stand. I must have looked like I'd walked out of a scene from a horror movie. Being the nice guy he was, or the well paid one, he didn't ask any questions as he went to retrieve my car that I had left from the night before.

So much had happened in such little time. For one, I was surprised that Eric hadn't had my car removed from the valet, although they had either forgotten or had no clue that I had placed it there. I was even pleased that they had kept it over night for me with no problems.

With no time the valet had my car back and I tipped him whatever unknown change I had in my purse, too exhausted to count it. Maybe he said something to me, but I didn't hear him as I got into my car and proceeded to make the drive back to my place.

I felt myself losing my sense of reality. My brain felt numb, like it was floating much higher inside of my head, and that at any moment I would look over and there would be a dead body in my passenger seat. I did my best to not look, afraid of my sanity and its possibility of literally breaking.

I could have blown a few red lights, that's how out of it was. My feet were killing me and I was surprised I was even able to drive. In an attempt to ensure that I was indeed driving as responsibly as possible I looked over into my rear view mirror and realized that there was a car that had just make the same turn as me.

I wasn't usually so paranoid, but I had also been living on my own and knew when to take precautions in this type of situation if need be. Screw drive by shootings, at least I could handle stalkers. Eagerly my mind pulled up the memory of Eric relaying the information about how I'd been followed recently. There was something off about this. The time in my car read 3:21 a.m. There were always people going places in LA, but something still seemed off about this car and the fact that it was appeared to be going almost exactly the same pace as me.

I gripped the steering wheel in one hand and my cell phone in the other. I was suddenly a lot more awake and coherent than I'd been in the last hour or so. I decided to turn down a small alley and then make a right at a fork. This would essentially put me back on the main path I'd been in and was not a path someone would take if they had found out they were going the wrong way.

I quickly glanced up at my mirror a few times to see if the car had followed me at all. Sure enough, seconds later the green truck was turning the same way into the alley. I felt sick, sicker than I had this entire journey and also more alone than I had since I'd gone to Jason's house. I tried to calm my mind, making the final right at the fork, trying to convince myself that perhaps it as just a coincidence.

He turned.

I slowed down, squinting, trying to see who the hell was behind me. The car behind me also slowed down as a result of trying to continue to follow me. The car looked a bit familiar now that I thought about it. I slowed down even more so that the truck was no more than forty feet behind me.

I looked back up trying to decipher the man's face in the dark. At that moment we passed under a street light and then I could see who it was— it was Alcide.

TBC

A/N: So this was a bit of a long chapter, I hope no one minded too much. I hate cutting things off when I'm so engrossed in them. I got some feedback last time, which truly made my night(s) and a ton of alerts, which was also great. Hope to hear back from some people and I'll be posting again soon— my chapters are hitting about 10,000 words a chapter, which is mightily time consuming and thus a bit of a wait.

Cheers.


	3. Chapter III

**A/N: Disclaimer is the same as said in chapter I. Author's note at bottom. **

**Blood Corruption **

**Chapter III**

I still had my cell phone gripped in my right hand, so hard that my knuckles were white. I rationalized that it'd be easy to call someone if I needed to, not that I planned on it at this moment. For now I was just going to keep on driving, playing stupid, see what happened.

Realizing that the person in the truck was Alcide sent my heart jittering away from me, and I thought that I must be having some type of heart attack. I watched as he pulled over slowly behind me, exceptionally slowly in fact, and followed my snail pace. He turned his lights off and then back on again. He was trying to get my attention. For someone who was potentially secretly following me he was sure going out of his way to be noticed. This also meant that I couldn't ignore him forever. I was eventually either going to have to talk to him or reach my apartment and get out of the car, neither, which sounded very appeasing.

My mind also wanted to remember how it felt to be in his arms and how protected I felt every single time he'd dropped me off at my apartment after some scandalous date we'd shared. I remembered the conversations I'd had with Amelia, discussing his character and how nothing seemed off— everything with Alcide, had always been calm and welcoming, almost familial. Alcide was a man's man, no funny business about it. He had been courteous, and while his sense of humor wasn't as high up as I had hoped for, he was kind and a hard worker.

There was no way he was going to hurt me, I thought.

He looked pretty awake considering. My phone vibrated in my hand suddenly. I looked down and it showed the little battery sign was gone. My phone was about to die.

The vibration must have jarred me out of my "Alcide is nice" daze because, while he had been nice, it was also almost four in the morning and I'd run into this one person in all of L.A. I also realized that I should have decided to drive in a better lit place.

There was nothing but blood and dirt all over me, pretty sticky now because of how it'd dried on my skin. I'm sure I looked more questionable than he did. For all he knew I'd killed someone. The blood reminded me that my world wasn't exactly what I'd thought it to be up until just a few days ago.

Time after time I was just being reckless with my life, whether it be doing stuff for Jason, or getting into fights with men like Bobby. I could have stayed with Pam and I might have even been in my own bed if I'd stayed at the scene earlier.

I kept driving at a snail's pace down this own way street. I hit the green button on my phone and the first number that came up was Bills. Not that I'd want to call many other people in this situation, I was grateful that those mafia people had erased all of my numbers and made it simple to contact someone, I thought sarcastically. I hit send.

He picked up on the first ring. My relief gushed out between my dry lips. "Yes?" asked a female's voice. Good lord, a female's voice? She sounded annoyed.

"I need to speak to Bill," I said, rushed with the urgency, my phone was going to die at any moment.

"Who is this?" She sounded stuck up and annoyed with a dash of fake. Oh, I knew that voice, it had to be Lorena. Why would Lorena be answering Bill's phone.

"Lorena, this is Sookie, I need to speak to Bill, it's urgent." I urged through clenched teeth.

"Hmmm," she responded lazily without a care in the world. "Bill's busy." I could hear the rustling of material and Bill's voice, deep, in the background close by. "Lorena, who is it and why are you answering my phone?" I could hear Lorena move the phone away from her ear. He wasn't angry. He sounded just as monotone as he had any other time.

"I didn't want someone disturbing our time together, Bill," she said, sickly sweet, loud enough for me to hear.

Alright, I got the point. I hung up the phone, positively disgusted by the notion that I had interrupted something between them. I shook my hands, ridding myself of the invisible and nonexistent nastiness that was idea of Bill and Lorena having sex.

I needed to at least let someone know what I was doing and where I was. I could deal with the concept of Bill and Lorena later. I'd made far too many mistakes recently.

Before I knew it I remembered the man who'd been killed, the one that was evidentially trying to take me just hours prior. It occurred to me that this was possibly the reason for this entire mess— someone was trying to kidnap me. He'd called me Brigant, whatever that was. I felt myself laughing in hysterics while hit the send button again on my phone. Someone was stalking me, someone tried to kill me and kidnap me.

The name "Eric Northman" showed up on my phone with a little phone indicating it was dialing his number. This was whom I was calling. I'd skipped right over Amelia and Pam's names. I needed to call Eric, who was I kidding? At the very least I should just let someone know where I was or whom I was going to be talking to in case… in case they found my body in the Angeles National Reserve. I loathed the idea of calling Eric, knowing he'd love the fact that I'd called him after only really met him once and doing the exact thing he'd want me to do. But I really did need to do something to let him know where I was at least. I was calling an almost complete stranger to protect me from someone I thought I knew.

"Northman," he answered in a smooth, deep voice. I'd almost expected him to sound tired, which wasn't an absurd thought considering the time. Not that Bill had been asleep. I cringed, remembering the idea of them sleeping together. Perhaps everyone with money just kept insane hours.

"It's Sookie."

"Where are you?" He asked almost immediately, his smooth calm demeanor completely gone. He took no effort to hide his immense annoyance. Perhaps he was upset that I'd run away. Who was I kidding, of course he was. I was his multi thousand dollar investment.

"I'm off of sixth," I said dismissively with an annoyed huff. "Look, that's the reason I'm calling. Someone's following me." I could hear him release a slew of profanities on the other side. "But I know the guy following me," I added in a rush, realizing I sounded completely insane. "So many he's not really following me?" I added stupidly. Maybe I'd lost it, after that attempted attack on my life, it had knocked some of my brain cells lose, this time too many.

While listening to Eric I caught Alcide's eyes in my review mirror. He had to know that I'd seen him and he could tell I was on the phone.

"You what?" He asked slowly, taking time to deliberately asked pronounce each word. He sounded furious.

"I'm being followed?" I asked meekly in response. "Or, I know the guy?" I hesitated repeating this.

"God damn it Sookie! Two days in my life, Two." I could hear him roar away from the phone, as if I wouldn't be able to hear him. "Where are you?" He asked, his voice rough. I regretted calling him instantly because he was just being so foul. I wondered if Bill would have been so foul towards me. There was nothing polite about this phone call. I told him my location, getting quieter by the second, my own stupidity settling on my conscious.

"I'll be there in five. Keep driving, do not stop." And he hung up. "Fine," I said to no one.

He didn't even say "hello" or anything, I thought, bitterly. In my fit I'd managed to completely stop moving, not that I was moving very far before. I decided to stop the car, pull completely over to the side of the road and wait, not that there was anyone else out here on the road, give or take a few homeless people. I had given Eric my location, and it was best to stay where I'd told him, I rationalized. I barely remembered him telling me to not do exactly that.

Alcide was approaching the car. Aside from the cool early morning weather, Alcide was only in a polo shirt and some khakis. He was very strong looking and approached the car slowly, as if giving me time to respond to him if I needed to. A quick look over confirmed he at least wasn't carrying anything, like a gun, not that I'd thought he was dumb enough to try to approach me in a car with a gun. I had the insane thought that at least his walking around with an unconcealed gun would make this whole discovering his actions factor a lot easier on a poor waitresses. Gun equaled murderer.

This really was a bad situation, I quickly told myself. Alcide was no more than a few feet away. In an act of sheer panic I started rolling up my window. I must have looked so stupid, manually cranking up my window where he could see and hear, as my car was old as bricks. My side view mirror showed a very confused Alcide who was still approaching me. "Sookie," he called out to grab my attention. I paid none.

Alcide was actually a chain saw rapist my mind concluded, agonizing images shooting off in my brain. Alcide was quite literally standing next to me knocking on my window. I wanted to pee myself. At least he was just knocking. I supposed that if he wanted to really get me he'd have just broken the window or done something as equally drastic. "Or I could drive away, stupid," I thought. I was in a car, I reminded myself.

He didn't look angry and he just waited. He wasn't trying to rush or anything odd. Maybe he really was just on the road at the same time I was. I rolled down my window, preparing for a talk. Under no circumstances was I going to allow myself to get up out of this car.

"Sookie," Alcide pleaded from the thin piece of glass. Or I could talk to him I rationalized.

He seems relieved that I'm now going to speak to him.

"Alcide, what the hell are you doing?" I snapped, rolling the window back down again. He didn't try to grab me or anything. My nerves bouncing around, uncertain as to what type of situation this is.

A rush of warm air puffed out of him, stark against the dark cold city air. "Are you ok?"

I thought for a minute. I'd been far too nice to every fucking person the last few days. I wasn't about to let this one go. "No. I'm not ok."

He frowned, the crease lines deep in his forhead. He brought his hands up and then put them back down. Maybe he'd seen me flinch at his sudden movment. I wasn't going to ask him.

"Look, I saw what happened. The crash… the… attack," he mumbled.

I stared at him for a bit longer.

"Common, Sookie, you don't have to lie to me, I know that you were attacked earlier."

"Why are you following me?" I asked stubbornly.

"I wanted to make sure you're ok," he said, his eyes roaming over my bloodied outfit. Sure, everyone just wanted to make sure I was ok. Jason, Eric, Bill, Alcide. Who else was going to jump into my life now.

"How did you even know to find me? Why were you around when I was attacked?" I might as well get a few answers out of him. "Why are you following me?"

My phone buzzed again, signaling it's last bout of battery life. Its light shut off. I clicked it once but nothing happened— it was dead.

"Great," I all but yelled. Of course I didn't have a car charger in this stupid piece of junk. I'd either have to wait for Eric or hope that Alcide really was telling the truth.

"Sookie, what are you doing with Northman?" He asked. I looked at him, his eyes looked a bit sullen, as if I'd hurt him in some way.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to play dumb. I'd only really been with Eric once this entire weekend and that was pretty much the truth.

"Sookie, get out of the car, common, I just want to talk. I'm not going to hurt you," he pleaded gently.

I wanted to trust him so badly. I needed someone to trust right about now, and even though I'd called Eric, he was hardly someone I could say that I trusted.

I pulled up the peg that magically kept my door locked and swung it open. He stepped aside to give me a large space to get out. I squeezed by him and stood up against the side of my car. I had no plans to go anywhere far and I wasn't about to get into his car or invite him into mine to have a chat. It really was cold out.

He opened his arms to me after seeing me shiver. He had no coat to offer me, I realized. Perhaps this was his offer to keep me warm, as inappropriate as it was considering all evidence that was given. I'd dated him for a short amount of time, but I saw no malice in his gaze. "Really Sookie, I just want to help you. I really did just want to make sure you were ok."

I stepped forward a bit when I heard another car pull up at fast speeds, screeching to a halt. Before I could completely turn my head over the individual was already slamming the door shut on his yellow BMW. Of course Eric would own a BMW. How he fit in that small coup was lost to me. I couldn't imagine his legs scrunched up in there.

I'd almost forgotten that I'd called Eric. It hadn't been more than ten minutes but he looked pissed beyond belief, quickly moving towards us, a scowl directed at Alcide.

His light wool coat was a dark olive green color and it looked great with his shockingly blond hair. His shoes, his vest and shirt were all of great taste and it was no doubt that Eric had money to spend on whatever he wanted to. He looked like a model, dressed impeccably. He'd since changed since I'd seen him last.

I'd only previously seen him in his work attire inside Northside and at the site of the crash. His own personal wear appeared to suit him just as well as his taste for work clothes and I preferred this casual attire much more.

He came to stand in front of me, not even giving me a look or glance over. He was so close that he was pushed up against my front, my breast brushing against the wool of his coat. I shivered, my nipple taunt before I could take another breath in.

"Alcide? Should have known you'd be the scum I'd had to deal with tonight," he growled. He was making quite the statement, roughly pulling off his platinum watch and shoving it into his coat pocket. Was he going to fight Alcide, I wondered? How did he even know him? Did Alcide know him? He had asked me what I was doing with Eric, but I assumed it had to do something with him visiting Northside, not a personal vendetta. My head was reeling with nothing but questions that I couldn't voice.

Eric was pushing off his wool coat and vest, leaving him in a thin, navy blue long sleeved shirt that clung to his muscles. Barely looking at me he draped his massive coat over my shoulders. It engulfed me and went down longer than my dress. He was seriously buff considering he had so many minions to do his dirty work for him. Although, I suppose that dealing in so many illegal things means you have to be ready to fight.

"Northman," Alcide greeted, sounding not at all too happy. He looked at me then, "You called him?" There was a bit of disappointment in his voice.

I tilted my chin up and nodded. I'm glad that Eric was towering in front of me, unable to see me nodding. Alcide appeared to dislike whatever kind of face that Eric was making. I imagine it to be smug.

Alcide was a big guy, but Eric looked pissed beyond balls and might actually be able to take him. I wasn't in a fancy to find out, though.

"Who are you working for nowadays?" Eric asked, pushing me further behind him, and pissing me off further in the process. He was not about to have this conversation about me while I stood behind him like some defenseless woman. I pushed aside him to stand next to him, feeling sort of like an equal. His blue eyes shifted down at me, as I was considerably shorter than him. I caught the scent of green grass and cigarettes off him, not necessarily unpleasant.

He didn't try to push me back behind him at least.

"Northman, perhaps we can talk about this later? It's late."

"Late?" He scoffed. "Late enough to be following a young woman at night?" Alcide opened his mouth in defense and then closed it. I daren't say anything, as I was just as curious if more so than Eric in figuring out what Alcide was doing.

"Alcide," I began, edging my way back into the conversation. "How do you know Eric." Alcide didn't answer.

"Yes, Alcide," Eric repeated, hissing his name. "How do you know me? Do you want me to tell her?"

Alcide looked incredibly uncomfortable and actually broke his gaze with mine to look at the ground. This wasn't going so great for Alcide, that was for sure.

"Well?" I asked, becoming incredibly annoyed.

Alcide looked up at Eric, glaring at him, daring him to open his mouth. I too looked at Eric, looking for what Alcide wouldn't say.

"I've worked with Alcide. In fact, I've hired him myself in the past," Eric let out smoothly. Something I'd been holding inside of me calmed down. This wasn't so bad, I thought. Alcide was, after all, a lawyer.

"So you've hired him to defend you? As an attorney," I added.

Eric let out a small snort, his eyes going between the two of us. "Lawyer, Alcide? I didn't know that was what you were claiming to do nowadays."

Alcide had been lying to me. I'd been dating a lie.

"Alcide's a private investigator," Eric said nonchalantly. Of fucking course the one guy I had deemed normal enough to date was a private investigator and was probably the guy feeding information to someone who was out to get my brother or me.

"You're following me?"

"Sookie, it's not like that," he responded calmly, placing his palms up in the air.

"The hell it is. You lied to me? You followed me?" Eric mumbled something under his breath, something not in English I gathered. It sounded rude, regardless.

Alcide violently shook his head.

I must be the worst judge in character. I swung my gaze violent to Eric. "And you, you knew this?"

"No. As I told you, I had my assumptions that someone was following you, although I didn't know who, and Alcide doesn't seem too keen on letting us know who's hired him and for what purpose."

"Alcide," I whispered, completely broken. He didn't dare look at me.

"Are you working for the people who tried to kill me today? The ones that attacked the limo?" I asked, barely above a whisper.

"No."

"Hardly information from someone trust worthy, though," Eric added. I nodded.

"Sookie— I don't know who did that but yes I have been following you." Him lying had hurt, him saying the words out loud hurt a bit too. I guess he couldn't be too dangerous if he was admitting to it. I saw Eric nod at his confession, accepting it.

I had the urge to ask him if he even had feelings for me but thought better against it. His feelings for me should be the least of my concern although they were currently screaming in my head. Eric would think me completely a fool if I dare ask him that. Obviously there was no romantic feelings that Alcide had harbored for me— he'd completely played me. I hadn't been head over heels for him but I did like him, more than most.

"Seems that Alcide needs a bit of help to help him remember who did exactly send him over," Eric said, his voice still cold. He stepped forward and Alcide's large work boots made a loud stomp as he too took one step towards Eric.

"Eric, no—" I begged, pulling his arm, but upon contact his gaze whipped to mine and he glared me down. I'd made the wrong mistake by telling him what to do. But I couldn't deny that touching him was the wrong thing. In the back of my head I knew that this was the first contact I'd physically had with him since I'd let him at the bar earlier in the night, or yesterday, granted that it was early Monday morning now.

He shot me a death glare, easily shutting me up. He looked furious.

Eric was huge, buff, his skin was surprisingly soft though, taunt around his muscles. He was letting me drag him away, I knew this. There was no way that I'd ever been able to pull Eric away from anyone if he wanted to. He towered over me and had to be immensely stronger than myself.

"Why are you so interested in Sookie yourself, Northman?" Alcide said, a bit of his confidence back in his voice. I knew this answer already though. Jason had been an idiot and I was literally paying off his debt by working for him. Eric moved back towards Alcide in a threatening manner, reclaiming the spaces I'd moved him back.

"It's more than just Jason, isn't it? It can't just be a couple hundred thousand down the drain, that's so unlike you Northman."

Alcide was insinuating that Jason's debt was nothing but a scratch to Eric. I knew Eric had a lot of money but I didn't know exactly how much. Maybe Alcide knew something I didn't.

Eric scoffed, loudly. "You really think I'm going to answer your pathetic questions. Why are you following her? Isn't it a bit late for a gentleman to be stalking a lady?"

Alcide shrugged his shoulders. "We all have our secrets and promises."

"Like hell we do," Eric shouted, his control completely lost. He lunged forward and punched Alcide in the face. It made the sickest sound of bone and flesh coming into contact. I tried moving forward but all I could hear were sirens in my ears. Alcide stumbled back and Eric pulled his fist back for another hit when someone yelling brought me back to my senses.

A cop had pulled up. Eric was currently on the ground, rolling around with Alcide and making completely animalistic sounds. It was quite a sight considering that Eric had to be close to 6'5 and Alcide was no small guy either.

The cop was trying to pull Eric off of Alcide as he was the person currently beating the shit out of Alcide. The cop was shouting at the two, identifying himself and giving them directions to move apart.

Alcide obeyed, moving across to sit down on the curb, or rather he moved out of the way of being beaten up. His left eye was puffy and he had a cut on his forehead somewhere hidden by his dark hair. Without a doubt he'd have a real bad shiner by the time he woke up. He watched as Eric struggled with the cop, stretching his arm out a bit.

Eric had calmed down a bit more, and the cop had let go him. He was walking back and forth, unwilling to sit down like the cop had politely asked him to. The cop was a bit smaller than Alcide, but by no means tiny. He had rugged dark hair, lighter than Alcide's.

He turned to me and I'm sure that both our eyes went wide at the same time.

It was Sam.

"Sam." "Sookie." We both said at the same time. My eyebrows went up as well. I was surprised that he remembered who I was. I'd only talked to him for a few minutes much earlier in the night at Northside when I'd run into Eric trying to escape. If life were only that easy, I pondered.

Alcide stood up quickly and Eric backed over, cautious to get too close to Alcide. He was a smart man, if a bit arrogant and temperamental. Getting in another fight directly in the vision of a cop would probably mean some lock up time, not that Eric couldn't maneuver his way out of a situation like this.

"Him too?" Eric asked in regards to my knowing Sam, although it sounded a bit more like a rhetorical question. "Of fucking course," he sneered. Alcide seemed to be also upset, although I couldn't figure out if it was because of Sam or the fact that he'd pretty much been beaten up by Eric.

"Well, what's going on here?" Sam asked, clearing his throat a bit, saying nothing more to me. The men in my life just loved to ignore me it appeared.

Neither of the men opened their mouths. Sam turned to me.

"Nothing." I lied. In the corner of my vision I could see Eric's pleased look.

"Well it didn't look exactly like nothing. What's a nice lady like yourself doing out here at this hour and— goodness, your dress." Sam looked me over. "Are you alright, Sookie," he asked, a bit more concerned than he'd been a few moments before. I pulled Eric's coat around me more tightly, his scent enveloping me deeply.

I simply nodded. "I was in an accident earlier this day." He didn't seem to believe me, though as he was gawking a bit.

"The fatality over by Northside's," Eric easily offered up. Sam looked back over to me looking for a confirmation. I nodded. He seemed to accept this as an answer. No doubt he had heard about it.

Sam nodded, his vision looking back over both Eric and Alcide. "Do you need me to drive you someplace? I don't mind, really. Anywhere you need to go I can get you there," Sam promised. I glanced over to Eric, and of course Sam caught the gesture. I was looking at Eric mostly to see if he was looking at my reactions. Perhaps he thought that I was going to rat him our, or maybe he wasn't even looking at me. I was wrong though, and he was looking at me, intently waiting for my response.

"You're with Mr. Northman here, Sookie?" I nodded, not having to explain myself. I knew by the way he said it was nothing more than insinuating that I was under his care and nothing more, maybe just my ride or what not, disregarding the fact that there were three cars here. Eric's smug face appeared to have a difference of opinion on what Sam was asking. Sam looked at me, a look of pity clear in his eyes. I wanted to defend myself, but knew there was nothing I could say that wouldn't give away too much information and put me at further risk.

"Seeing as this man was being attacked by Mr. Northman when I myself pulled up," Sam stated, "would you like to press any charges?"

Alcide looked at me before shaking his head no. I wondered vaguely how much each of these men knew about Eric and what he did. Sam seemed to know who he was, if just his name. And Alcide had to know a bit more about his blood money if he'd actually been hired by Eric once upon a time.

Sam took some time to get their full names and other information for a short report, one that didn't list any complaints but verified that he'd been there. Eric had calmed down a decent amount and was back to acting like a normal human being, as was Alcide, although Eric seemed to have a bit more charm than Alcide in talking with Sam.

"Well then, seeing as that is all settled, I'll wait right here for you three to leave before I take off." There was no arguing with Sam, his word was final.

Eric finally looked exhausted, and I imagined he'd try to weasel his way out of the demands of Sam if he hadn't just been through hell in a day. Mob or not, this had to have been a very extreme day for the blond.

"Sookie, go home, I'll be right there behind you," Eric quietly said to me, quiet enough that neither Sam or Alcide would be able to hear. It was the first time he'd really spoken directly to me and only me since showing up, and there was a tenderness to his voice which wasn't there previously.

I wanted to argue, but Eric knew where I lived regardless and it wasn't as if I was going to be escaping anytime soon. If there was one thing to be learned from this, it was that I benefited from being around these people just as much as it caused me trouble. Perhaps they'd cancel each other out. Sure I wouldn't be in any of this trouble if Eric hadn't come into my life, but already he'd helped me twice in a day. I started to shrug off his coat but he shook his head, not saying anything. Craving its warmth, I kept it on.

I let out an exhausted sigh and turned away from the men, no energy to really say goodbye or argue with Eric on the matter.

"Wait, Sookie," Sam said. I stopped, not willing to turn around for him. The sooner I got to my car the sooner sleep would be granted to me. This I knew to be a fact. Sam came up behind me, surprising me when his warm hand caught mine.

"Please, please be safe. I know you don't know me, but if you ever need me, don't hesitate to call. I don't want to insinuate or think that you're involved in anything illegal or bad, but if you ever need anyone or any advice, I can help get you out of this." He walked away before I could say something rude to him.

I looked down into my hand and saw his business card. Sam Merlott.

Getting into the car the men began to separate finally. Sam had just started up his car. Just before I started my own car I could hear Eric yelling again, but this time a bit more calm yet a whole lot more threatening.

"Believe me when I say that I will, without a doubt in my mind, find out who hired you and why you're doing this. You'd better wish to god that I don't find you, you asshole or I'll have your throat." He was making a death threat, and there was every reason to believe him, not because of his history but simply because of the strength and pure hate in his words.

I could see that Sam had heard the words, but he shook his head and his gaze caught mine again. He had some idea as to what I was caught up in. But there was no real safe way to bring him into this mess. He was sweet for trying to help a complete stranger, that was for sure.

88888888

I was dead on my feet. I wasn't lucky enough to find a close parking spot not that I ever could in Los Angeles, let alone at such an odd time at night. I didn't wait for Eric to meet me at my place. I was half parts too tired and much too annoyed to have to deal with him. My adrenaline had finally worn off and all that was left was a cranky, pissed off Sookie, angry with Eric for dragging me into this life.

Not that Alcide spying on me had anything to really do with Eric it seemed. But my conscience wasn't willing to accept that notion yet.

By the time I'd parked and walked my way into my own apartment my shoes were off and my hair was down. I had every intention of taking a hot shower. I knew that it'd probably wake up Amelia, and in some selfish way I hoped it did because I'd yet to see her in a few days and I wanted to see a face that comforted me.

I lost myself a bit in the shower, staring at the dark blue tiles that surrounded me, just watching the steam waft up. The shower made me more exhausted but was rejuvenating in a lot of ways. I took my time, Eric could wait outside for all I cared.

Throwing on an oversized tee and sleep some shorts I made my way out of my shared bathroom with Amelia to hear voices. It was Amelia and the thought of her cheerfully sitting in the living room made my heart soar.

Except, she was talking to someone. I panicked for a moment, thinking that she was talking to Alcide. It wouldn't be the first time he'd dropped in. But I thought that Eric had pretty much threatened him into a coma and that he'd steer clear of our place for at least a day or two before trying to get in contact with me. Coming around the corner I was both relieved and annoyed to see my blond hero seated on my tiny yellow sofa, his legs running a mile away from the edge. He barely fit on it and I was surprised to see that it was still standing. It was surreal seeing him in my own home. It was also disturbing, because it confirmed that all the things I'd been doing or had been witness to were real and that my life wasn't the same.

"Sookie!" Amelia greeted cheerfully. Her eyes were a bit puffy and she was in a terry cloth robe, indicating she must have been asleep. I wondered if I had woken her up with the pipes or if it was Eric.

Eric was in my apartment, I thought. It was a bit creepy realizing that he just knew where I lived. He had said he'd just meet me here. The information that he knew where I lived hadn't hit me at the time. Granted, my brother did owe him quite a sum and he'd proven to me I was easy to track. Perhaps he'd had to call someone to refresh himself on my exact location, I hoped. Him just having my home address stored in that brain of his didn't exactly scream "sane." Another part of me was pleased to see him in my own comfort zone, as surreal it was to have my dangerous and illicit world meddling with my mundane life of a waitress' sofa.

"Amelia, Eric."

"Oh good, you do know him. I was wondering just how I was going to take him down in case you didn't know him," she giggled, only half kidding. Amelia knew how to swing a bat, that I knew. Leave it to Amelia to let strangers into our apartment at five in the morning. Although, I hadn't been much better in recent times in both trusting and working with people. I imagined that Eric really was a sweet talker and had talked his way into the apartment somehow. I'd have to ask Amelia later about that.

"I hope you don't mind that I let him in. He was just telling me that you were in an accident today and just had an altercation with Alcide and a cop" Her voice was strained with worry. My eyes welled up a bit just hearing her talk to me. Sure people had been decently worried about me since the incident earlier, but not anyone I knew really. Pam had been very understanding and Eric had come to assist me, but hearing those words from Amelia opened a flood gate of emotions that I'd been trying to suppress. It was nice to have someone really care for you, not just someone who needed you to spy or wanted you for sex or anything like that.

On the other hand, I realized that Eric appeared to be telling my roommate quite a bit.

"Are you sure you're ok, Sookie?" And I knew without a doubt she'd throw Eric out if I asked her to, not that both of us combined had any chance of moving him anywhere he didn't wish to go.

"Yes, Amelia, I'm ok." And I would be ok, I knew this to be true.

"You own that bar, don't you?" Amelia asked Eric, swiftly changing topics and moving forwards as I could expect her to. Her curiosity was definitely getting the best of her. Amelia was the nosiest person I knew. Eric looked a bit peeved but nodded anyway. At least he had some manners with her. "That place is so classy. I just saw it featured in a magazine. Have you been Sookie? Oh I'm so jealous!"

Leave it to Amelia to know who Eric was at least on a public front.

She chatted with Eric for a short amount of time and he gave her bits and pieces of information about the bar he owned as well as another restaurant in the area that I'd never heard of, although Amelia had. I learned that Amelia's family was a lot more wealthy than I had previously thought and Eric actually knew her father by way of having done business with him. I pondered what type of business Mr. Broadway would have with Eric, but I supposed that not everyone was a good Samaritan like I thought. I vaguely had time to hope that Eric did racketeering, and perhaps that was how Amelia's family was involved. The day had come when I was hoping for people who protected you for money but caused a whole lot of shit in the process and probably caused the threat over some more horrible relationships. Yes, racketeering was on the bottom of the bad things in life now. Oh how my life had been turned upside down.

Eric seemed to be warming up to her and almost looked disappointed when their conversation slowed down and Amelia realized there must be another reason why we were all in the living room awake at 5 in the morning.

"Well, I'll just leave you two alone then," she remarked, a lot of innuendo in her voice. I wanted to smack her hand. "You have to tell me all about it when you have the time," she added. I didn't have to look at Eric to know he was watching me. I nodded back to her, basically lying. There was no way that I could tell her really what was going on. I did want to know what stories Eric had fabricated for her, though.

"Amelia—" I looked to Eric for some help on how to tell her.

"Miss Broadway, as I said we had a bit of a mishap with Alcide."

"Yes," she addressed, albeit slowly.

"He appears to have been lying to you both."

"Amelia, he's a private investigator. He's been investigating— following me. We caught him in the act tonight." Nothing but betrayal and anger laced my voice.

Amelia wrinkled her nose. "Alcide, Alcide?" She asked. We both nodded.

She let out a long whistle.

"So he doesn't work for his father? He's not a lawyer?" She asked.

"Well," I began, unsure of what truth I knew about Alcide. For all I knew he had no father and his name wasn't actually Alcide at all, it was John.

"He does work for his father, who owns a private eve business," Eric offered. This surprised me. So Alcide had had some information that was true. Not that it made him the least bit reliable.

"Wow. Sookie, I'm so sorry. And I let him into the apartment so many times," she said with a gasp. "Tray is going to kill him." Eric looked at me, curiously. He obviously didn't know who Tray was or hadn't gathered that information on me when having me followed by his own guy. "Boyfriend," I mouthed to him as Amelia went on a ramble of her own. I wasn't really listening, too exhausted to process it.

"I don't suppose I have to inform you of the dangers of being in contact with him from here on out," Eric pressed. Amelia completely agreed with enthusiasm, swearing to never let him in or to talk to him. She continued to ramble on and on.

"Why would someone want to follow you though?" Amelia looked as confused as I felt.

"Jason's been up to no good it seems." It was the best answer I could come up with without giving away too much information.

"Drugs?" Amelia asked sadly. I nodded. Eric would probably not be too pleased with me telling Amelia, but if he wanted me to work for him then he was going to have to accept some things. The first of these things was that I trusted Amelia with my life. She knew my past and the past that Jason and I shared with our parents abusing drugs. It didn't come to a complete surprise to her (nor me deep down) that Jason was into drugs, or rather dealing them. I wasn't about to tell her that he was dealing though. And my answer appeared to suffice her a bit.

"I can't tell you everything Amelia, I'm sorry, you know that." She shook her head in understanding. This problem of drugs and Jason would seem like a very personal, family issue to her.

"How is your grandmother by the way?" She asked, turning to me, concern on her face again. I'm glad that I was too tired for my face to work properly because if it was then I'm sure that it would have looked dumbstruck. It took a moment before I realized that was the story I'd told Amelia originally for my absence. I felt guilty using my grandmother like that, especially since she was in good health for her age.

"Oh you know Gran," I said ambiguously. She nodded, too tired perhaps or something to really press me further on the subject. "Thank you, Amelia, for everything you've done." She dismissively shrugged me off and said goodnight again as she head back to the direction of her room, but not before she gave me a huge wink. "Alcide," she mumbled once more before shaking her head and moving completely out of the room.

I made a promise to myself that I would not lose touch with my best friend, no matter who I was involved with or what type of illegal activity I would be forced to do.

8888888

"Why'd you leave? After I showed up? There was no reason for you to be further frightened? There's no reason for you to be frightened of me or any of my workers or family now or ever." I shrugged. I knew this would probably be the case. I was an investment now.

"I know what my brother owes you. I'm not just going to skip town on him or you for that matter," I said dryly. This was the truth. I cared far too much about Jason just to run away, no matter how much I wanted to.

"You're important to us because you really are an employee for me now. And I take care of my employees," he reasoned. I didn't really believe him. There was a very specific reason as to how I'd gotten involved in this mess and that arrow pointed directly back to Jason and money.

"So why did you decide to call me? After you'd made a run for it?"

"I called Bill first, actually." If Eric was surprised he didn't let it show on his face. I moved to sit on the seat next to him, suddenly more aware that I was wearing no bra and only a shirt and shorts, my hair crinkling up into waves as it air dyed. I felt vulnerable.

"And he didn't pick up for you? I'll have to have a word with him about that. It's his job to take care of you," he said and he sounded honest.

"Oh, he did," I added quickly. I didn't want to get Bill in trouble. "Well, not him, a friend of his took the liberty to answer for him."

Eric smirked. "Ah, was it Lorena or Portia?" He named them like ice cream flavors. I was not expecting this type of answer from Eric.

"He has two girlfriends?" I couldn't say that I was surprised. I had thought that perhaps he was interested in me, but I was clearly wrong. Wrong on all accounts with all men in my life, it seemed.

"Girlfriends may be a pretty specific title for Bill, I suppose."

"So you asked him to take care of me," I asked. I wanted to know if Bill was the one offering me up his extra protection or if it was an offer by Eric.

"Well, that depends. It's his job to take care of you. I did not ask him to provide you house and protection, if that's what you asking." This answered m question. For some reason Bill wanted me in a part of his little group.

So thrown by this information I got up, determined to make some tea. I asked Eric, who still sat on my sofa if he wanted anything. He declined politely. I had been in such a rush and with letting Amelia in on Alcide and a bit of what was going on I'd completely forgotten my house manners.

I put some water in my kettle, an old one, and I lit the stove. I could hear the water turning inside of it. I decided to stay in the kitchen so I could pick up the kettle on its first whistle, not wanting to disturb Amelia more than necessary. The sun was already coming up through the window.

Eric had gotten up and moved over to the kitchen, making the four foot journey in only one step it seemed like.

"I know that Bill offered to care for you. I would like to make the same offer as well as to suggest that you take me and not him up on his offer. I have much more that I can offer you."

I gaped at him. "What is wrong with you men, I don't' need anyone to take care of me." He looked at me like I was crazy. Everything that had since happened since I'd met Eric screamed that I needed some type of protection.

"I know Bill very well and that is something he would offer, especially with such a special young woman like yourself."

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Should it be?"

"So you're saying that he's attracted to me? That's the only reason why he's been around today? He insisted that I stay with him." I was slightly offended and the hurt in my voice must have been pretty evident. I knew this was possibly the truth and nothing to do with Bill really wanting to protect me.

"He is attracted to you, no doubt, but he's also doing his job" he scoffed. My eyes felt a bit wet around the rims. My feelings were out on display it appeared. "Bill doesn't care for you, he's impossible of caring for you, don't be silly." Eric spoke with such ease, his voice sounding strong, resilient and as if he spoke the truth. He was much more confident than Bill, less awkward almost.

"He said he wanted me to learn self defense," I reasoned before I could rationalize my thoughts.

"No. Don't ever confuse someone wanting to protect you with caring for you." I felt like these words would echo in my mind forever. He was right in a lot of ways. I had thought that maybe Bill was interested, but it was true, he'd only been working for Eric. I was an investment of Eric's and had even been housed last night in Eric's apartment.

Taking Eric up on his protection would probably be no better than taking Bill up on his, I thought.

"Bill keeps women. With a job like this, women come by easily and with the modest amount of money he has he earns women. Multiple women. Didn't you wonder who Lorena was? I know she was here earlier I saw her horrendous shawl lying about," he chucked lightly. I just figured she was a… I had no idea what she was. Clearly she was staking her claim on him when she had seen me earlier.

"She's a kept woman, Sookie." So girlfriend was a pretty specific word.

"Bill keeps many women, I think he has perhaps three currently, though I only know of Portia and Lorena. They sleep with him and in return he protects them." How disgusting. Did Bill did think I was just going to spread my legs for him? He had sounded so sincere and convincing. "I believe that they are very infatuated with him as he may be with them."

"Well, protects them as well as he can. He's very good at it I suppose. In short, I just think you should know that he's a liar and a manipulator," Eric added.

"I thought Bill was your friend."

"No, he's my employee," Eric chuckled. He moved himself over to one of my two stools in my small kitchen. I pulled out two cups and poured him one just to have someone to do. He didn't have to drink it. He didn't say anything when I placed it in front of him though.

"So how are you different than Bill, offering me this?" I asked.

"For one, I don't keep women. I'd be offering you only protection as long as you kept your side of the bargain in working for me. There would be nothing else I expect from you." Part of me was relived that Eric appeared to be offering me a real solution for my worries, one that didn't involve prostituting myself out. At the same time, I felt sad, knowing that Eric really must only see me as an investment. It wasn't as though I cared for Eric, but there was no denying his attractiveness.

I was also glad that someone had explained this to me before I had agreed to Bill's supposed arrangement.

"Take some time to consider it. I want you Sookie, and that means that I'll protect you to ensure that." Who talked like this? When had we switched over to first names? "You're a very strong young woman and I am easily enchanted by that quality. You're also very beautiful." How was I supposed to interpret that? I blew on my tea.

"I am considerably more powerful than you give me credit for." Deep down I knew this. Maybe I was attracted to power.

"Modest much," I snorted into my tea.

"You just don't understand. You've only seen one branch of what we do here, just one snippet of our interactions with clients." Eric was just giving out more and more information. Although, if I was going to be spying for him I supposed it would be important to know more and more about his holdings.

"That's wrong. What you do is wrong," I muttered, remembering my poor brother.

"There is no right or wrong. People do what they want, and you're sorely mistaken if you don't think that there aren't a half million other people living their lives doing exactly what they want to." He emphasized "exactly."

"You'll see that what I have to offer surpasses anything Bill could give you." He didn't specify in what ways. "And, like I said, I expect little in return."

"You do this often then? Offer women protection?"

"No. Never." I believed him.

"You should be delighting that I've even made this offer to you." And like a switch the completely arrogant Eric was back in my kitchen, any semblance of kindness clouded over by expensive clothing and watches.

Since we were back into complete business mode and not in this in between that made me feel like I had butterflies in my stomach, I may as well continue gathering information from him.

"Do you have another reason for keeping me, like Alcide hinted at? Is this about my brother or is this about something else?"

"Do you trust me?" He was holding my gaze intently as I pulled my almost dry hair up into a bun on top of my head.

"No," I responded quickly.

"Good," he replied just as fast. "Can't a man just want to keep a lady around? You're working for me because I want you to. That PI doesn't know me like he made it sound." Ah, so the PI was now the name he'd refer to Alcide with. I couldn't blame him, I wish I had a more distancing term to refer to him by as well. And here we went with how he wanted me to work for him. That sounded like I was a tool, or a sex object, with Eric I couldn't tell.

"So you're not in habit of gaining new employees? Alcide appeared to be pretty shocked. What about my brother?"

"It's hard to come by people you trust. You, I trust." This surprised me. I'd practically killed some of his guards today and even ran away. That didn't sound like someone you'd trust.

"How'd you get to me and ALcide so quickly earlier?" I asked, beside myself.

"Hm? Oh I was at your apartment already waiting for you. When you took off after the accident I figured you'd be coming here." He looked around my apartment a bit judgmentally. Not everyone could be rich, I mentally yelled. "I would have been there sooner but your phone was dead, it took some guess work to figure out exactly where you were, even with your shoddy directions," he added.

The conversation was slowing down and I was apprehensive about going to sleep.

"We should head back to the loft," he said quietly, not wishing to disturb the silence that had fallen between us.

"What? No, I'm not going back to the loft. Why'd you meet me here if you wanted me to go back to your place?"

"Convenient location. We needed to discuss things. I also wanted to come in." He smirked, looking much younger than he had to be. Judging by his own loft and just his looks, he had to be in his mid thirties.

"No, I'm not going," I said stubbornly. "Didn't you just preach something about trusting me?"

"You're not going to change your mind are you?" I shook my head.

"Fine." He pulled out his phone. I wondered if hew as calling back up to haul me away. Listening to him on the phone though, I picked up that he was sending someone over, a bodyguard perhaps. This was just as bad, but I was far too exhausted to argue more about the subject.

He led me back to the yellow sofa and I collapsed on it. He sat there, I assumed, waiting for the body guard. I felt myself drifting off.

"We'll figure out who Alcide's working for. We will. It's a top priority of mine," he vowed. I thought perhaps I should tell him that the people who'd attacked the limo were after me and not after him. As far as I knew he thought that it'd just been another attack on him. I was grateful nonetheless. I fell further into a stupor. "You're so naïve," he practically whispered at me harshly. "You're so naïve," he repeated, this time with sadness, turning to me for the first time and looking at me with gentle eyes, although I might have been imagining it, my eyes were drooping. I had the urge to try to hit him, how dare he call me naïve, but my arm wouldn't listen to my brain.

"We'll meet with the other later, discuss what happened today."

He had been so cold when Alcide was here, and now, with just a flip of a switch he was checking me over, ensuring my safety as his eyes looked over my bruises. I felt safe in a strange way with a complete stranger.

I was too tired to say anything though and I drifted off to sleep before the body guard came.

I awoke in my bed disoriented after having been asleep for too long. Eric's coat was still over me and I was on top of my bedding. He'd left his coat, perhaps on accident, I reasoned. I grabbed it, inhaling his strong masculine scent of cigarettes and clean grass. Poking my head around my open door I saw Clancy standing there, looking pissed off. Eric must have had Clancy move me because the thought of Eric doing that seemed impossibly sweet and unlike him. I was grateful that I had already been wearing my pajamas.

The sun was far off on the other side of my apartment, indicating that it had to be late afternoon. I was incredibly sore and had more than a few bruises from last night.

There was a note on my door from Amelia. "Call your boss," it read in her round handwriting. I moaned in agony. I couldn't catch a break. I needed to call Eric and my boss and do a whole bunch of chores.

Even when someone was following me and potentially trying to kill me, I still had chores to do.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So not a whole lot going on in this chapter. More in the next one. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome. **


End file.
